


Choices and Consequences

by BloodRose_05



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Abuse, Aggression, Alpha Levi (Shingeki no Kyojin), Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alternate Universe, Biting, Blood, Bonding, Consent, Dubious Consent, Enthusiastic Consent, Fights, Fluff and Angst, Gentle Sex, Hange Zoë's Experiments, Levi has a Gentle Side, Marking, Mating Cycles/In Heat, Multi, No mpreg, Omega Eren, Passive-aggression, Past Levi/Erwin Smith, Possessive Behavior, Protective Eren Yeager, Rough Sex, Rutting, Shapeshifting, Smut, Some ErenxArmin, This is a LevixEren fic, Violence, implied rape, sex in general
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-09-21
Updated: 2016-04-20
Packaged: 2018-04-22 16:24:13
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 27,361
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4842317
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BloodRose_05/pseuds/BloodRose_05
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Choices. Everyone makes choices, even for the simplest things. And to choose to sacrifice oneself for others may not always be the right thing to do. Not when it can destroy others alongside you. Not when it can rip away every last shred of happiness and peace from your life and you're left with nothing but pain and suffering. Sometimes it takes a hard way to learn that not all weak are helpless and not all strong are capable..and that heroes should stay in books and that fate does bring love together after all. Believe in yourself and believe in others... Believe in us.<br/>~Armin Arlert.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Armin

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! To be honest, this isn't my first fanfic, but its definitely the first one I decided to upload since the AOT/SNK hype is still going strong. Levi and Eren are my favorite couple ever and this little piece has been floating in my mind since forever. I have other fanfics i would probably decide to upload so yeah~~ i hope you enjoy this little (Not so little) piece and i hope to update as soon as possible.

                Eren Jaeger had always been a steadfast person. Once he made up his mind, he was too stubborn to change it and was way too determined to see it through. He had never been a needy person either, not even during the worst of his heats. It had been a huge shock really, to find out that Eren, who had presented himself as an Alpha was actually an Omega. When he had first claimed to be an Alpha, no one thought of it to be a surprise at all with his stubborn and passive-aggressive attitude. But what was surprising was that one year after that, Eren fell into an all of a sudden, very strong heat during a get-together. His friends only had then realised that Eren had been drowning in suppressants to smother his heat and scent to come off as an alpha for the whole year. There wasn’t any rule to say what Eren did was wrong but it certainly was very rare to see an omega choose to be an alpha or vice versa. While it was common for betas to decide to be an omega, or even an alpha if they feel like it was their calling, it was almost unheard of for an omega, or an alpha to choose to be their polar opposite and staying that way.

                Of course there had been cases, but none lasting for more than a week. Their roles were just too different. Where an Alpha displays aggression and dominance, an omega displays care and submission. Their scents were too potent to continuously suppress, especially during heat. So it had definitely been a huge shock and not to mention a pain to his friends to suddenly find him collapsed in the kitchen whimpering and giving out such a strong scent of an omega in heat and growling at anyone who tried to come close, forced submission or not. But that was over 4 years ago.

* * *

 

Eren growled loudly as he felt a familiar pool of warmth settling in his stomach and the ache creeping through his muscles, he was going into heat soon and by the looks of it, it is going to be a strong one too. He rolled out of bed, stormed into the kitchen and proceeded to tear open a small box only to jump in shock, growling out strings of curses when his nails, which had unconsciously sharpened into claws with his annoyance, accidentally ripped the package inside it and spilled numerous small white tablets onto the kitchen island counter. Panicked, Eren slowly backed away from the kitchen to lean against the wall in a futile attempt to calm down.

The minute he felt the slightest bit calmer, he took a deep breath and walked to the cupboards to get a small medicine container, but just as he managed to clean up the mess, a small blonde popped his into the kitchen grumbling softly.

“What’s with the ruckus?”Eren forced a smile and the blonde glared. “Don’t do that, you look constipated.” This time Eren’s smile grew to a huge genuine grin and barked out a laugh; anger forgotten.

“Morning sunshine!” he teased. The blonde’s glare softened and his face broke into a small gentle smile.

“Morning hothead, what’s going on?” Eren smile dropped and let out a huge sigh. The blonde’s eyes widened as the strong smell of heat that had been non-existent up until that moment filled the room. “Wow…” he breathed.

“It hasn’t even started yet Armin! I don’t think the suppressants would even work this time... and I can’t control it anymore once it does...” Eren whined and dropped his head into his hands. Armin fought back a giggle at the self-proclaimed alpha’s submissive attitude knowing it would insult him. Instead he chose to wind his arms around Eren’s waist and croon softly. As waves of calm and fatigue washed over him, Eren decided to simply ignore the fact that the crooning Armin had directed to him was one meant for calming omegas and definitely not alphas. He had a long day (night) at work and had only gone to bed an hour ago not forgetting the fact that it was only 7.30 in the morning and blamed his raging emotions on the lack of sleep.

It was naturally an omega thing to comfort, or to seek out another omega for comfort, especially if they were unmated or their alpha was unavailable. Most mated omegas would offer comfort to, or seek comfort from their alpha partner. So when Eren’s sister had found out that Eren was really an omega she immediately convinced Armin to stay with Eren, (not that he could have a say in it anyways), as a sorely needed support that Eren who was too stubborn to admit that he needed, especially after being successful in rejecting and fighting his instincts for so long.

But it was not all for Eren; it was meant as protection for Armin, who preferred to be alone. As an omega naturally submits to alphas, it became an unspoken, unwritten rule for alphas to not force an unwilling omega to submit or mate unless the situation calls for it. Even so, mating in that situation was heavily frowned upon. There are some; however who disregards the mere idea of this and proceed to collect multiple omegas, seeing them as mere objects to be used until no longer able to serve them. Majority of these alphas tend to resort to rape and forceful bonding, thus making it unsafe for unmated omegas to stay alone. This especially applies to omegas like Armin, who are naturally submissive and almost defenseless in nature, (or at least Mikasa and Eren liked to think so).

Armin blinked as the weight on his shoulder grew heavier, finally aware of Eren’s slowly drooping eyelids. He staggered a little trying to shift Eren into a better position before giving up and dragged him out of the kitchen into the study. Eren could not even register the almost painful tugging around his torso and had already fallen asleep by the time his head hit the couch snoring lightly. Armin threw a thin woolen blanket over him and rolled his eyes at the drool on Eren mouth. Pecking him lightly on the forehead, Armin hurried out of the room rushing to get dressed. He was already late for work.

_Stupid idiot, you work way too hard._

* * *

 

                “ARMIN! GIVE ME FIVE CUPS OF BLACK ROAST AND ONE CAP STAT!” Armin sighed. It was way too early for this. Not to mention he had been rudely awakened by Eren’s loud growl only to end up crooning to calm Eren down to sleep. The clock had not even struck nine in the morning yet but Armin was already wishing that he could crawl back into bed.

                Mornings in a quaint little café such as Maria’s Rose were always hectic. Especially when it was the only café that sold quick and decently made coffee for an extremely early morning fix. Mondays however, were the highlight of the week when it comprised of sleepy, grumpy customers that were a walking example of a land mine. These were the times where Armin preferred to work in the Kitchen rather than out at the cashier, not that it was quieter or anything, but he preferred to stay behind the scenes and laugh as the customers argue with each other and trip over themselves trying to get their much needed coffee.

                Armin was a little sadist, or so he would like to think. He enjoyed the occasional fights that broke out in the wee hours of the morning only to be disappointed when the fight was stopped by his overly friendly and eccentric co-worker Louis. Louis would always walk up to customers who fought with a big bright smile and two steaming cups of espresso in hand. He probably looked scary to the customers; after all, Louis was huge. Talk about bulging biceps and a huge build with a large bright smile equipped with a set of shiny white teeth and a glare that could force any alpha to submit almost willingly to beg for their lives. Ironically however, Louis was a beta, and happily so. Armin was more than grateful when Louis had first applied for the job and begged his boss to accept him needing someone as huge and scary, but nice and strong enough to handle customers in the morning. People were demons when it came to their daily caffeine fix and by the time lunch rush hour had rolled over, most of the little café’s employees were burnt out and as Louis put it, “trying to cop as much Z’s as possible during break”.

                Today had been another one of those Monday blues and Armin had never been more grateful for the soft couch in the employee’s room and had proceeded to lounge on it during his break. Lunch today had been more hectic then usual when a group of teenagers got too rowdy and customers had started to complain. It didn't end very well, and Armin had almost been ready to just give up and play the sick card to go home early. But when the tiny clock in the break room struck 4, Armin leapt to his feet and ran to the cashier in hopes that a particular patron would come in today exhaustion completely forgotten. Soon the bell chimed and Armin mentally jumped for joy and tried his best to fight the huge smile off his face the minute he caught the familiar scent. The wait and exhaustion was totally worth it.

                “W…Welcome! What can I get you?” Armin stuttered and mentally kicked himself. The customer had not even walked up to the cashier yet! There was a small squeal, that told him that he was about to seriously regret making that mistake and that it obviously did not come from the person Armin wanted to see. Shaking off his disappointment Armin grinned.

                “Ms. Zoë, a pleasure to see you again” The woman rolled her eyes and hip bumped a smaller man beside her, ignoring his growl.

                “Tut tut, it’s Hanji to you.” Armin giggled. This woman is crazy, in a nice fun way. Getting to know her for the first time however was one experience Armin never wanted to ever go through again. She moved aside to let her tall, tall friend, an extremely good looking blonde, to walk up to the counter smiling extremely politely but Armin could a hint of a sly smile.

                “Armin.” Armin shivered and blushed at the deep baritone.

                “H…Hi Erwin...” he squeaked.

                Hanji squealed and peered at him as if looking through a microscope, wriggling her eyebrows suggestively."I think I’m seeing something! Erwin keep teasing him!"

                “Now why would I ever do that? Besides, all I did was call his name.” Erwin replied blue eyes sparking in amusement as he stared at Armin, his smile growing slyer by the second. Armin very nearly lost it right there and then. The man was flirting. FLIRTING. He could barely hold himself back from leaping over the counter to jump into the person’s arms and run his hands through that short neat blonde hair and kiss the person senseless. Armin could feel his ears itching to shift and pulled his cap lower as if it would help. Armin bit his lip and forced himself to remember that he had only known Erwin for about a month and barely knew anything about him, not that that was any motivation for him to stop but Armin had more tact that that… didn’t he?

* * *

 

                _“Good afternoon, what can I get you today?” Armin asked smiling politely._

_“HIYA THERE!!” a woman replied, brown hair swinging wildly from her ponytail. “Just one regular cappuccino for me and…” she turned to look at the two men standing behind her with a helpless look on her face._

_“English breakfast tea for me… Shitty glasses, I knew you were going to forget our orders.” a short raven haired man with an undercut replied._

_“Levi, don't be rude... And a regular dark roast for me” the taller blonde chastised, blue eyes blazing and Armin immediately shivered, glazed eyes dropping in submission, never having experienced such strong reactions to an alpha before._

_Well shit._

_A few weeks later..._

_“Hi.” The man said smiling. Armin stiffened as he felt his face heating up._

_“Hi…” he muttered awkwardly, unsure of what to do. The blonde just extended his hand and nodded._

_“I’m Erwin Smith; it’s a pleasure to finally meet you… properly.”_

_“Huh?” was his oh so smart reply and Armin had never so badly wanted to smack himself for being stupid. Mr. Handsome chuckled._

_“What I meant was, it’s nice to finally be able to meet and talk to you properly and not just when you are behind the counter.” Armin let out a small sigh of relief and smiled._

_“Yeah, I’m Arlert, Armin Arlert, nice to meet you.” Armin grinned extending his hand._

_“Erwin Smith,” Erwin replied shaking Armin’s hand. Armin was sure he had already melted into a puddle by then and forced a smile ignoring the delicious zaps he felt running through his body from where his hand had met Erwin’s skin. It seemed as if Erwin felt it too as he peered curiously at Armin pupils fully blown not having enough will power to continue being ignorant of how good Armin’s scent was to him._

**_I see I may have found my mate..._ **

* * *

 

Erwin was a man of practicality. To him, everything can be approached and solved just by planning and being calculating. There is no use preparing for a future you are unable to see. Each plan has to be carefully laid out and preceded with as much caution as necessary. But one smile from this tiny little blonde immediately had him lost in thoughts. _Is this what having a mate feels like?_ He couldn’t decide if he liked it or not, but supposed he did enjoy the freedom of not having to be extremely stiff and practical all the time and found himself openly flirting with the little mushroom head. Erwin wanted him so bad and barely had any will power left to deny his feelings.

There was a small cough that had Erwin straightening up and clearing his throat embarrassed as he forced down the scent that he knew had accidentally released while thinking about the little blonde, displaying his want and need for the omega. The answering scent that rose up in response to his was faint, as if Armin had been trying to stifle it down but it told the alpha all he needed to know. Hanji had more than rolled her eyes and continuously nudged Levi.

"Hey brat, are you free tomorrow evening?"Levi asked clearly annoyed as he struggled to push Hanji away from him. Armin jumped as if he had been shot and nodded furiously."Good. Then get ready by 7 tomorrow, Erwin will pick you up."

"Wait what?"Armin squeaked.

"What do you think you are doing Levi?" Erwin growled. Levi shrugged but before he could snap back a reply Hanji stepped in and giggled loudly.

"Well Erwee, we got tired of watching you two dance around each other while waiting for something to happen you see? So we decided to set up a date for you! Well you can always ask him out properly by yourself now...” Erwin sighed.

"I'm sorry about my friends Armin, but I will not deny that I have been thinking about asking you out for dinner sometime, so Armin, would you go out on a date with me?" Armin's smile had been blinding.

"How could I ever say no to that?" he replied with a small chuckle.

 

 


	2. Meeting

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the lateeee update. I choose the wrong time to post my fanfic, smack-bang in the middle of my exams. Heavens knows what I was thinking. Thankfully my exams are over now and I can update alot more frequently. Thanks for waiting!

                Loud rumbling and the sound of a door slamming shut woke Eren up with a start. Groaning he dropped his head back onto the pillow and closed his eyes, mind not yet caught up to his current state. Eren sighed trying to fall back asleep; he could hear Armin talking outside and wished his friend would shut up.

                “Thanks for the ride!” _Wait what?_

                “You are welcome. I’ll see you tomorrow.” Eren could almost hear the smile in that deep voice. Wait. Hold up. Was that the sound of the car window?!  Eren stayed deathly still, his mind reeling. _No no no no no… this cannot be happening._ Slowly, his thoughts clicked back into place and his mind slammed back down into reality. He could hear everything. The sound of the car driving off, the crunching sound of gravel as the tires turned, the ticking clock in the next room, the water tricking down the pipes in the wall, Armin’s footsteps walking up the driveway… Eren wanted to scream. Everything was heightened. His nose stung with the different scents that assaulted it. If his first heat was supposed to be the most unbearable, this might as well have been his first. His heat was coming on too strong too fast. It was supposed to be another day or so before it starts, but seeing as how his senses have already been heightened, to this intensity… Eren took a slow deep breath.

                And then it happened. The dull ache that had left his body earlier now came back with full force. _Hurts…everything hurts_. Eren gasped, trying his best to breathe through the pain and didn’t even realize that the little pants and whimpers he let out were louder than he thought until the extremely heavy pounding of footsteps on the floor left his ears ringing. Armin burst into the room throwing open the heavy oak doors breathing heavily, face scrunched up with worry.

                “A…min...Hurts…everything...” Eren tried to gasp in-between pants. _My voice… my throat… it hurts… shit..._  Armin’s gaze softened with sympathy.

                “Jean is on the way to help get ready for the party. He can make the pain pass faster… unless you want to be stubborn and wait an hour?” Armin asked softly. Eren shook his head slightly in panic. It hurt too much to let his ego get in the way. Armin gently settled down next to Eren and softly ran his fingers down Eren’s throat, rubbing circles with thumbs along his chin.

                 “Shh… it’s alright, just awhile more…” Armin cooed and bit his lip trying to force his body to stop flinching with every whimper Eren made. It was the only thing that Armin hated about being an omega. The feeling of being burned alive was a rather accurate way of describing the pain omegas had to go through, but it was the only indication they’ve got to know that their heat has actually started. It was also a signal for bonded alphas to return to their omega before their heat starts. Luckily enough, the pain only usually lasts for an hour, the longest being an hour and a half. Unmated omegas can dull the pain just by being in contact with an alpha but that usually doesn’t stop there. Most alphas and omegas give in to the heat, especially if the omega shows no intention of rejecting the alpha.

                “Do you want to cancel the party?” Armin asked softly. Eren shook his head. Marco was a freckled Jesus; he deserved this party more than anything.

                Armin began to feel dizzy and took a deep breath leaning away from Eren. The last thing he needed now was to fall into sudden heat.  Letting one hand rest on Eren’s neck thumbing in soothing circles, he proceeded to fumble around with his phone on the other hand. By the time Jean had picked up Armin had all but kept his composure and yelled into the phone in panic.

                “WHERE ON EARTH ARE YOU?” Armin screeched as his head pounded with sudden pressure.

                “Whoa man. Chill” Jean’s easygoing voice filtered through the phone in reply. “What’s going on? What’s wrong?” Armin giving up hope on winning this hopeless battle groaned as his body gave in to the strong scent of heat, his wolf-like tail and ears swishing and twitching as he tried to control himself.

                “Eren… heat… can’t take it anymore…” Armin gasped.

                “I’ve just parked. I’m outside.” And the line went dead.

                “Eren…” Armin whispered patting his head. “Jean’s here… I’ll be right back alright?” Eren gave a whimper and Armin bolted from the room throwing open the front door muttering a quick ‘study’ to the dumb-founded Jean and proceeded to collapse on the grass without a care taking in slow deep breaths. Armin sighed and stared up at the dark sky his head spun with a dull throb lulling him to sleep. Armin gave a huff and a small smile before closing his eyes and giving in to the darkness.

                Minutes later, Jean came back out and shook Armin awake and passed him a sweater.

                “You'll catch a cold.” Jean muttered staring intently at Armin. “I can see why you ran out, that scent could force any omega into heat and we all know that doesn’t happen often. How far away are you from your heat?”

                “A month or so…” Armin replied dryly more focused on adjusting his pants that had dropped slightly when his tail decided to appear.

                “Suicidal bastard…” Jean sighed.

* * *

 

“Eren?...” Armin called out pushing open the heavy oak door, but only silence greeted and mocked him.

“I’m in the kitchen!!!” Eren called out from across the hall. Armin took a deep breath and spun around stalking into the kitchen. The moment he stepped in however, Eren whirled around and clapped his hands together and bowed.

“I’m soooo soo sorry Ar!” Eren said still bowing slightly. Armin stood there dumbfounded for a few seconds before a soft guffaw had Eren peaking up. “Ar?” he whispered a small smile betraying the concern in his voice. Armin threw his head back and burst into loud laughter.

“Oh gawd… you dweeb!” Armin choked out in between laughter. “I was just going to ask if you were fine. You are bound to develop some kind of immunity to all those pills anyways.”

“I don’t think that’s the reason” Eren said shaking his head slowly. “I have a feeling that it’s just that this round of heat is too strong to suppress". Armin raised an eyebrow in genuine curiosity. Jean snorted.

“You’re definitely more trouble than you’re worth Suicidal Bastard.” Jean said leaning against the doorframe shaking his head.

“Armin… why is there a braying horse in the kitchen?” Eren asked with a completely straight face.

“Is that really how you repay people asshole?” Jean snapped.

“I didn’t know you counted horseface!” Eren spat back bristling. Armin sighed. _Alpha idiots_.

“Eren stop behaving like a savage with no manners and thank Jean properly.” Armin snapped, pushing Eren away. Whipping his head to Jean, he narrowed his eyes and glared.

“Don’t make me get Marco.” Jean gulped.

“Chill Ar! We’re just playing!” Jean stuttered nervously. Freckled Jesus or not the beta was a force to be reckoned with when angry.

“HELLLLOOOOOO??? ANYONE HOME? YOU GUYS LEFT YOUR DOOR WIIIDDEEEEEE OPEN HEREEEE!!!” A loud cheery voice called out from the porch. Eren winced and covered his ears. They were still a little too sensitive.

“You guys aren’t dead righ- OWW Sasha don’t pinch me!” Another, slightly softer, annoyed voice called out hesitantly.

“CONNIE! Don’t say that! But for the record YOU GUYS ARE ALIVE RIGHT?” Sasha yelled. Connie rolled his eyes.

“Kill me now please…” He muttered.

“Shut up already Sasha!” Jean snapped. “You’re disturbing the neighbors.” Sasha smiled sheepishly.

“My bad” Armin popped his head out of the kitchen and grinned.

“Hey guys! Bring the food here will you? And I sincerely hope you actually left something behind this time Sasha. Also keep your voice down, Eren’s heat just started so it hurts when you guys yell.” Armin said biting back a laugh. Sasha and Connie kicked off their shoes and ran into the kitchen.

“Woah… What happened to him?” Connie asked staring at Eren who had curled up into a tight ball covering his ears.

“Gimmie a minute…” Eren whispered.  Armin shrugged.

“He claims that his heat, this time round’ was too strong thus resulting in the suppressants not working. But as far as I’m concerned, he is immune.” Armin said dryly.

“Shut up Ar!” Eren yelled. Well sort of seeing how it came of more like a loud whisper. Sasha giggled.

“You should meet my Chemistry Lecturer Eren! I’m sureeee she would love to experiment on you.” She chirped as Armin rolled his eyes.

“Please no. Ms Hanji would murder him.” Armin snapped. Hanji was nice yes, but he has heard enough from both Erwin and Levi to send him running for the hills the minute Hanji’s eyes sparkled with keen interest. Hanji never knew when to call quits and that in itself screams danger.

“Who?” Eren asked confused as hell.

“She is just a regular patron at my store Eren, nothing to worry about”. Armin grinned, his blue eyes softening in pity. Sasha’s eyes couldn’t help but sparkle with amusement as she stared at Armin knowingly, recalling a text she received earlier.

“Sooooo Armin… Have you chosen what to wear for your date?” She asked with a grin that stretched from ear to ear. Any wider her face would have split in half.

“W-what? How did you know?!” Armin spluttered blushing a thousand shades of red.

“You have a date?” Eren asked raising his eyebrow.

                “Ms. Hanji had texted me asking me to help you choose your clothes.” Sasha giggles maniacally. “She also asked me to make sure its sexy and not those geeky outfits you wear everyday no matter how cool you look in them.”

                “Armin’s dating?” That shocked response came from Jean who had just walked back into the kitchen. “Krista and Ymir went to pick up the cake and should be here in about 15 minutes. Marco’s on his way and Annie and the rest are still MIA. Chances are they will be late… as usual. How’re the ears? Sore still?” Eren shook his head.

                “They are definitely less sensitive than earlier. The pain is mostly gone though. Is your hearing really supposed to be this heightened during heat?” Eren replied turning questioning eyes to Armin who shrugged. Eren genuinely couldn’t remember his first heat, only the distinct feeling of arousal. Mikasa had told him that he was unconscious throughout his first heat but Eren couldn’t bring himself to believe her. Armin had told her that much of what she said was true but during the times where he was conscious he did things Armin had rather not speak about.

                “It depends on the intensity of your heat. And yes I do have a date although I’m surprised that you haven’t overreacted by now Eren.” Armin replied. Eren shrugged. Sasha grabbed a packet of chips and dragged Jean to the living room to make sure that Connie did not end up hogging the couch like he did the last time.

                “I can’t always keep you from ever finding a mate Ar. I don’t want you to grow up to be an old and lonely man without a family of your own. Just hope that Mikasa is as open to this as I am now.” Eren shrugged. Inside he grimaced. He remembered how Armin had broken down when Eren and Mikasa refused to let him find a temporary mate during his last heat. Armin had snapped at both of them screaming how they were being stupid and that they couldn’t cage him just to keep him safe. Eren eventually relented and let Armin out and coax a pretty nice alpha male back home for the rest of his heat. Mikasa wasn’t too happy with it however and refused to speak to Eren for two whole days before eventually giving in but ended up yelling at Eren for half a day. Eren had felt guilty for betraying Mikasa but even he knew that he couldn’t destroy Armin’s happiness just because of his own suspicions. If Armin’s date turned out to be one of those alphas… Eren unconsciously growled loudly in response to his own thoughts. Armin rolled his eyes.

                “He is a nice alpha Eren…” Armin snapped glaring at him in annoyance. “And a possible mate…” he muttered softly so that Eren wouldn’t overhear. If Eren did however he didn’t say anything but started picking at the large chicken Sasha brought, trying his best to carve it properly.

“Let me do it Eren” the cool tone startling him as he snapped his head up to stare at the tall Asian girl.

                “Mikasa…” Eren whispered smiling. Mikasa smiled, her stoic features softening for once. It was a very small smile, but it was a smile nevertheless. She shook her head flipping her short black hair.

“Well give me a hug you dweeb!” she snapped returning to her usual hard look. Eren laughed and gave her a quick hug passing her the knife.

“I thought you were not going to make it back in time!” Armin yelled excitedly bouncing into the hug.

“I managed to convince my coach to let me off earlier. Besides, I couldn’t say away for too long. My stomach was in knots worrying about you two. Especially you Eren.” Mikasa said coolly.

“Hey! At least I’m not the one going on a date!” Eren snapped.

“EREN!” Armin screeched. Mikasa rolled her eyes.

                “I know about it Ar. Just be careful.” Armin and Eren’s jaw dropped. After what happened the last time was this really all the reaction they were going to get? “What? At least you are not in heat and can make better judgments Ar. But if he tries anything funny…” Mikasa stabbed downwards neatly wedging the knife in-between the chicken’s ribs right where the heart was supposed to be. Armin grinned and backed away slowly. _Man she is scary…_ Armin wanted to laugh. Mikasa would never stop babying them, at least not anytime soon.

* * *

 

                “HAPPY BIRTHDAY MARCO!!” The whole room cheered as Marco walked in.

“Man! And we thought we were going to be late!” Reiner cheered lifting his beer mug up. The burly man got up and thumped Marco on the back causing Marco to wince but he smiled nevertheless.

“What were you guys up to anyways?” Marco asked.

“We were watching a movie... the new one that just got released.” A girl muttered flipping her blonde hair away from her face. “The movie was delayed and we thought we wouldn’t make it.”

“Well at least we did… thanks to Annie’s driving.” The man sitting next to Annie interjected, his green eyes shining with mirth.

“Well,… Bertholdt here was screaming for his life in the car though.” Reiner grinned chugging down his beer.

“Well this is a rather quiet party for us isn’t it Ymir?” A smaller blonde patted her companions shoulder.

“Quiet? Holy shit Krista! How much crazier do you want this party to get?” Connie asked laughing.

“I don’t know, I figured something would have been on fire by now.” Krista retorted snorting. It was true to some degree. Every time they Eren and Armin hosted a party the whole house would be down in flames by the next morning if Annie and Mikasa were not there to make sure the house remained untouched.

“You mean like your hair during Ymir’s birthday?” Connie grinned. And Jean laughed.

“I remember that!” Jean said snapping his fingers. “You were so mad you made us all pay for multiple trips to the salon.”

“Baldy, your girlfriend is stuffing her face with all the food again.” Ymir muttered dryly pointing to Sasha who was on all fours attacking a plastic bag of buns. Connie rolled his eyes and groaned. God bless that girl, one day she would find herself stranded on an Island with no food.

“I’m pretty sure something extreme would happen again.” Krista said smiling like the little angel she was.

* * *

 

                “…. I take everything I said back. This is definitely one of the worst parties we have thrown” Krista muttered gazing around the living room. The poor soul had decided to take a nap upstairs in one of the guest rooms and had woken up when she unconsciously realized how quiet the house was.

                There were plastic bags strewn across the hall leading to the living room and upon entering, Krista couldn’t help but notice the huge pile of leftover bags of chips around Sasha who had passed out, leaning against the wall, Connie face down next to her. There were no broken vases this time thankfully, Armin must have stowed them away after losing a precious vase in a brawl between Eren and Jean. Jean was curled up with Marco on the couch next to an empty pizza box looking serene as they slept in each other’s arms. Annie and Mikasa were slumped over the table their heads resting in their arms. Empty food wrappings and random pieces of clothing were strewn all over the floor leading to the broken table in the middle of the room where Bertholdt lay on top of Reiner, buck naked. Krista recoiled in horror wondering why the hell that wasn’t the first thing she noticed when she walked in. Eren and Armin were nowhere to be found and Ymir had already left for work. Krista sighed and crawled back up the stairs. They could clean up later.

                As she passed by Eren’s room, Krista paused in her tracks, hearing soft cries. Curious she pushed open his door only to find a frantic Armin running back and forth, making multiple trips to the bathroom.

“Armin! What’s wrong?” She asked grabbing hold of his shirt as he zoomed past her. Armin jumped as if he had not noticed that she had been standing there.

                “Ah Krista, nothing to worry about, Eren’s just having a slight temperature due to his heat.” Armin smiled. An omega that chooses to not mate during their heat was often susceptible to fevers due to their increased body temperature. In the worst cases, when an omega’s heat is too strong, the omega falls into a coma or their heat may develop into something worse that could turn out to be fatal. Krista’s eyes narrowed and slowly moved to the bed. Armin had hurriedly scurried back into the bathroom searching for a larger towel. Gently, Krista placed her fingers on Eren’s forehead and almost immediately withdrew her hand in shock.

                “SLIGHT?! Armin he is burning!” Krista snapped grabbing a sodden towel off the bedside placing it on Eren’s head.

                “It’s just the initial stages Krista; it will pass soon. His heat should mellow out by then.  He hasn’t suppressed it for so long that its life threatening.” Armin said hurriedly feeling Krista’s glare. “Eren would rather die than miss another class.” Armin sighed.

                “Well if he’s dead, there wouldn’t be anymore ‘going to classes’ ” Krista retorted.  Wringing out the towel, she passed it to Armin who wordlessly rinsed it for her. She placed the towel on his neck and lightly smacked the back of her hand on his head. Eren felt cooler, but only slightly.

                “Yeah well, we all know he is a stubborn one.” Armin said fondly.

                “Someone needs to clean up downstairs and it’s not going to be me.” Krista said rolling her eyes. “Owh and did you know your table is smashed?”

“WHAT?!?” Armin yelled. “Who?-“

                “Reiner and Bertholdt” Eren whispered coughing. Armin glared at him placing his hand on Eren’s chest preventing him from getting up. “I’m fine already Ar, see?” Eren whined and sat up easily, as if Armin hadn’t hindered him at all.

                “Are you sure you’re alright?” Krista asked patting Eren on his cheek. Eren grinned. Krista raised her eyebrows in shock. Just a few moments ago Eren’s temperature had been sky high but now his skin felt cool to the touch. It had barely been five minutes.

                “See what I mean Krista?” Armin grinned. “Amazing isn’t it?” Krista nodded eyes wide with shock.

“Can we go clean up now?” Eren asked deciding that it was best to just ignore their conversation. Armin grinned.

* * *

 

                Clean-up was relatively uneventful with Reiner promising to buy them a new, sturdier coffee table. Bertholdt had been bright red throughout the whole thing as Eren, Armin and Krista walked in on them getting it on right there and then. The rest had been rudely awakened when Krista screamed for the heavens. Berthold had scrambled off blushing bright red and awkwardly tried to pick his clothes off the floor. Jean couldn’t stop joking and teasing the couple saying that they could never keep it in their pants and Marco was just more than horrified at the notion that they could have had sex in the room where everyone was sleeping in.

                Eren couldn’t help but smile as he walked down the street. He had planned to go to class but had just found out that it was cancelled. Stopping he looked down at the grocery list in his hand. Most of it had been crossed out as Armin had already bought most of the weekly supplies when he got off work. His eyes fell onto a small note on the corner of the list; it was a book title, a rather famous one at that. Eren vaguely recalled Armin saying that he wanted to read it but never had the time to stop by the bookstore. Deciding to do the little mushroom a favor, Eren back-tracked his steps to the tiny bookstore at the corner of the street conveniently situated opposite his college.

 _This reminds me… I need to complete my sketch._ Eren had been taking an art course after needing something to major in for college and had decided to settle on art. Sighing, Eren hurried into the store. The sooner he went home the better.

                The store was surprisingly empty for a weekday and the usually warm cozy atmosphere of the shop had its temperature dropped to a point where Eren had to rub his arms to try and stop himself from shivering. Picking up the book Armin had wanted he hurried to the counter wanting to get out of the cold as fast as possible. However, he could not help stopping at the art section and started picking up new brushes and canvases. As he was browsing for paint, the faint tinkle of the shops bell told him that someone had walked in. Ignoring it, Eren focused on finding the right shade of red he needed to complete his painting. He suddenly felt hot and bothered which was a stark contrast to the freezing cold he had been feeling earlier when he walked into the shop. However, when the customer walked past Eren, Eren had to hold on to the rack to keep from sinking to his knees. Oh that scent! Eren’s pants started to feel too tight due the growing pressure of his tail trying to escape its confines. Eren’s ears felt as if they were burning and it took everything in him to try and fight off his growing arousal.

The short man paused in his steps started to turn around. The strong scent of denial however made him decide not to. So instead, the man just sighed and decided to speak.

                “You know, it isn’t every day you see a potential mate immediately rejecting an alpha especially when in heat. Go take care of yourself brat before you explode.” The man said gruffly, voice thick with amusement and hidden arousal. He slowly made his way to the back of the store, as far away from Eren but hallway there he paused in his steps and continued “by the way, this is the first time I am experiencing such strong reactions just from an omegas scent. I hope to see you again brat, but maybe in better circumstances” and continued to the back of the shop. Eren couldn’t help but feel at a loss. It must have taken a lot to walk away from an omega in heat, even more so, a potential mate at that. Part of him, against his better judgment, had just wanted to jump the man there and then and never had felt more grateful that the man was considerate enough to walk away.

                Eren bolted to the counter and hurriedly paid for his supplies before running out. The outside air felt cool on his skin as he gulped in air like a dying fish. Shaking his head he caught sight of the pair of steely blue-gray eyes that seemed to swallow him whole at the window. Inside the shop the man smiled as the omega broke his gaze and ran off. As he exited the store, the remaining traces of the omega’s scent in the air told him the brat was no longer rejecting him, at least not during the last few moments. The man rubbed his neck, smile still playing on his lips, relishing in the feeling of his undercut nipping into his hand. _Interesting brat._

                Eren panicked. He didn’t like this, didn’t like the dark unbidden thoughts that flowed through his mind as he stared at the alpha. Shaking it off Eren tried his best to forget the man’s scent and face; Tried his best to forget that steely gaze that made him want to wholeheartedly submit to the man. No one had ever brought about such strong reactions in him before. Unconsciously forcing him to submit to the alpha, something he would never consciously do.

                That man was the first person who has ever managed, in all the 5 years of suppressing his heat, to elicit such a carnal response from Eren without even lifting a finger; let alone the fact that for the first time ever, Eren did not want to reject him. He did not like where this was going. Not one bit. Curse the stupid alpha pheromones. But as much as he tried to deny and reject his feelings, he couldn’t help that single, dark unbidden thought that floated through his mind as he thought of those eyes,…

**_Mine_ ** _._

* * *

 

                “Woah Eren what happened? Are you ok?” Armin asked worriedly dropping the knife onto the chopping board. “You don’t look too well.” Eren smiled. He knew how much Armin could worry and although he was happy about it, it was a little too endearing. Eren was also aware of the amount of times Armin kept awake to fuss over him, as well as neglect his own needs to ensure that he was just feeling “alright” like he was doing now.

                “More importantly Armin, don’t you have to get ready for your date?” Eren asked dumping the paper bag on the table. “Oh yeah, I got you the book you’ve been wanting.” Armin’s head whipped around so fast Eren wondered how he did not get a whiplash.

                “Which one?” Armin demanded. Eren pulled out the thick book and dumped it on the table. The look on his face was priceless. But slowly his face broke out into a huge smile and lunged across the table to wrap Eren up in a giant hug that left Eren staggering and grasping blindly around him to find something to steady himself.

                “Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!!!” Armin gushed and hopped of Eren turning back towards the chopping board. “Yes I have to get ready but I just want to finish chopping up the garnish first. I promised Mikasa that I’ll make sure you don’t go surviving on pop tarts again.” Eren rolled his eyes.

“I’ll be in the shower. Just give a yell if you need anything.” Eren said stalking out of the kitchen.

                About an hour later, Armin came knocking on Eren’s door yelling for him to get his ass down to eat.

“YES MUM!” Eren hollered back laughing so hard he had a stitch in his side. By the time Eren came down, Armin was already at the door, a sleek black Mercedes parked outside the house waiting.

                “Wow Ar, finally something that does not scream NERD.” Eren joked staring hard at Armin, almost lost for words. Armin grinned. He was just wearing a plain button down navy blue shirt paired with black skinny jeans but somehow made the whole thing look a lot more attractive than it should have.

                “Thanks Eren” Armin giggled and rushed out the door, “Oh one more thing Eren, EAT BEFORE going into art mode. Bye!” and slammed the door shut. Eren rolled his eyes and trudged into the kitchen before dejectedly picked into his meal. It was going to be a long night.

* * *

 

                People were disgusting creatures and Eren knew it all too well. He absolutely loathed people who abused their own power and that mindset itself had easily goaded him into joining the Survey Corps. Eren sighed for what was the umpteenth time that night. The soft random strokes of the brush grew heavier and darker on the canvas as Eren took his frustrations out on his painting. It was messy, wild and uncontrollable, just like him. People enjoyed drowning themselves in misery just to have something to constantly complain about. Eren didn’t see why people didn’t just leave. They had all the power in the world to do so yet only so few made a change. It wasn’t as if they were backed into a corner. And Eren hated that. Hated the lack of freedom to change things, and hated what he was forced to be.

                People are also very selfish creatures. Everything in the world could belong to them if they have the money for it; Always dragging others down just too reach the top. Eren wondered why such people existed in the first place. The world would be better off without them right? Eren didn’t know, didn’t care. His hands were flying across the canvas and in that moment he was free. His hand and his brush were his voices and his canvas would scream all he had to offer to the world for him. Adding the final touches onto his painting, Eren put it aside to dry and dumped his used brushes into a cup of water. Throwing his apron off, Eren did not give a shit as to where it landed and just stumbled blindly into the bathroom to try his best to scrub the paint of his hands in the sink.

                Eren didn't even bother to change out of his paint stained clothes and just dropped into bed as waves of exhaustion washed over him. Closing his eyes, his drowsy mind finally gave into the darkness as soft caresses and memories of a scent so blindingly familiar, tugged him deeper and deeper into the depths of his heat.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading and i hope you enjoyed it! Please leave a kudos :)


	3. Drown

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> FINALLY!!!!!! anddddd SMUT ALERT!! MUAHAHAHAHA

                _Eren moaned loudly feeling the man’s hand roaming his whole body, teasing him, running along his thighs and up his body rubbing his thumbs into his nipples, mouth biting into the sensitive spots on his transformed ears. He shivered, tail brushing against something warm and hard. He wanted this so badly. He was drowning in the feeling of this man ravishing his body, covering him in his scent, drowning him in it._

_Pleasure rolled over him in waves, bathing him in the heat of his mate. It was too much, this man’s heat, his mouth and his breath as it caressed his body. A nip to his lower back had him ripping the sheets in shock, moaning loudly when a hot wet mouth finished him off. But the man didn’t stop there. Kept teasing and stroking him, keeping him steady as those silver grey eyes drowned Eren in lust._

                Eren woke up panting and sweating, his hands gripping his sheets like a lifeline. “Shit.” He muttered looking at the mess on the bed. He was sticky and covered in his own semen that had crusted along his thighs. Somewhere along the night he had managed to strip down to nothing, his paint-stained clothes scattered all around him. His eyes fell on his painting that sat proudly on the easel at the foot of the bed and Eren couldnt help but find himself staring at it. His painting looked amazing, just a pair of wings against with golden-red hues shining down on stone walls, as if flying away. But Eren couldn’t help but feel as if he was missing something until he noticed it.

                _This painting. This fucking painting. Why did I paint this? Why? Why? Why?_ Eren’s painting glared at him with accusing eyes; well quite literally. Amidst the beautiful sunset Eren had painted, he had unconsciously added in of a pair of cold silver grey eyes as if seeing through them. As if his dream was not enough. Now he was even painting those fucking eyes. Everything seemed to smell like that man. His sheets, his shirt, his skin. Eren frankly had enough. The fact that he was actually enjoying the man’s scent on his skin was scaring him.

                “Armin where are the spare sheets?” Eren snapped the minute he stormed into the kitchen. Eren’s patience was wearing thin. There was no doubt about it. That man in the bookshop is his mate. He found his mate. He found his fucking mate. He was so screwed. He was supposed to be an alpha. Eren wanted to tear something apart in frustration. The answering laugh however, came from the one person he didn’t need to see this early, especially today.

                “Someone had a rough night.” Jean laughed. “Oh wait. I forgot. The only time you ever probably get laid is when you do it yourself. Did you finally find someone who would fuck you despite your ugly face? Or was it all just a dream?” Jean teased, hiding the hints of concern in his voice. _It’s too early for this._  His blood boiled itching for a fight; for contact. It seemed as if his body had given up on finding relief and was trying to issue contact in another way… or maybe it was just Eren. His hand had curled itself into a tight ball and Eren fought losing battle to keep from smashing it against Jean’s face. A soft hand on his fist however allowed him to relax and let out a soft sigh.

                “Eren don’t. You know he means well.” Armin said softly. “Now what’s wrong with your sheets?”

                “Tore them and they are um…” Eren trailed off with a flush. “Stupid heat, stupid mate” he muttered. Armin raised his eyebrow at that but decided not to question, at least not now when Eren is in an irritable mood.

                “Go back to sleep Eren, you can use my bed.” Armin said giving Eren a little push towards the stairs. “Go before you break horse face’s nose or something.”

                Jean rolled his eyes at Armin’s attempt to humor Eren. The small chuckle in reply told him Armin’s little joke had succeeded. The minute Eren left however, Jean grabbed Armin’s arm and asked “Did you smell that?” Armin raised an eyebrow.

                “Smell what?” Jean shook his head.

                “That scent pouring off Eren. He found his mate Ar. He found it.” Jean let out a huge breath. “This changes everything.” Armin shook his head. 

                “I don’t think it will. Eren’s really stubborn. We just have to wait and see how he plays this out. Remember we still have no idea why he presented himself as an alpha, not to mention the fact that he even has the willpower to stay an alpha. And I don’t think it’s something as baseless as his hatred for alphas, I mean he gets along well with Ymir, Reiner, his teammates in his squad and even you Jean.” Armin said thoughtfully. Jean sighed, the situation had gotten complicated and Jean could do nothing but agree with the little mushroom.

* * *

 

                “Thanks for dropping me off Jean.” Armin said slamming the door shut. Jean wound down the window and grinned.

                “It’s the least I could do with Eren down for the count. What time you get off?” Armin shook his head.

                “I’ll be meeting my mate, don’t worry about it.” Armin flushed. Jean raised his eyebrow. “It’s only been one date Ar.” If it was biologically possible, it was almost certain that Armin would have turned a few shades redder. _Things can happen, Jean…_ Armin shook his head and waved hurrying into the shop.

                It was fairly busy as always, with lunch hour bringing in wave after wave of customers. By the time his shift ended, Armin had almost wanted forget everything and go home, but the prospect of surprising Erwin was too good to give up especially now when Mikasa was back overseas completing her training and wasn’t breathing down his back. Armin made a mental note to text the sleeping alpha at home before he goes crazy with worry, heat or not. Almost forgetting to check out, Armin quite literally ran out of the store all the while staring at his phone trying his best to follow the directions on the GPS.  An hour of wondering about however, Armin had found himself rather lost in a rather isolated and unknown street. Had never realized the area even existed, Armin duly noted that it was rather far from where he lived. Armin vaguely recalled passing Eren’s fight school about 20 minutes ago. When the sun started to set, lighting the street in deep rich orange only then did Armin began to panic. The street was too quiet, and too close to the forest behind the town. It wasn’t as if Armin was afraid of the prospect of mere thugs or thieves. It was scarier knowing that both alphas and omegas that have lost their humanity were roaming in the forest behind him in their truest form, whatever animal it might be. His phone could not determine his location and was slowly dying. The strong scent of alphas in the area caused warning bells to ring in his head. Without meaning to Armin had let out a small snarl. The scent of alphas grew stronger and Armin slowly backed into an alley. His phone had been out of service for awhile now and the few soft beeps told him he finally had signal. Immediately he called Eren praying that he was awake and could answer the phone.

                The phone had barely rung once before Eren answered. “Where are you Ar?” Eren asked voice full of worry. “It’s super late. Where the hell are you? Tell me. I’m coming to get you.” Armin sighed despite his panicked state. Eren just had to be a Mikasa incarnate especially when it came to things that involved him, but still, he was glad that Eren could pick him up. The alphas were getting closer and would soon be able to smell him. Armin wasn’t stupid, he knew the minute he scented alphas he had accidentally wandered into a forbidden alpha territory.  But no matter which street he turned to, they all looked the same and Armin knew that wondering about was worse than just staying put.

                “Some unknown street and it’s an alpha territory. I swear Eren it wasn’t my intention to end up here.” Armin squeaked into the phone. “I was just walking trying to find Erwin’s office but my GPS lead me to some weird area and now I’m lost.” Eren’s groan hurt a lot more than Armin expected and couldn’t help but flinch. “Sorry Eren…”

                “Hide Armin, keep running and keep hiding. Do not let them find you. Do whatever you need to. Do not let yourself be caught. I’m on my way.” Eren barked over the sound of the car engine revving. “Trust your instincts Ar.” And the phone line went dead. Armin stood very still trying to calm his jumpy heart from exploding out of his chest. Peaking from the opposite side of the alley, Armin quickly scanned his surroundings trying his best to find an escape route. He found only one that was a safe distance away from the forest but running there would increase the chances of the alphas being able to scent him and track him.  Behind him, the lights flickered and the number of shadows seemed to grow.

                “I think I smell an omega.” And at the sound of those words Armin bolted heading straight for the narrow alley. Armin couldn’t stop, even if he wanted to. His heart was pounding in his chest and his blood pumped furiously in his veins. The rush of adrenaline brought Armin to a high he never experienced before and although terrified, Armin felt a small sense of joy the prospect of being in danger and having to run. _Is this how all alphas feel like?_ Armin wanted to know, loved the feeling of being free and loved the aggressiveness boiling under his skin threatening to break free. A hand roughly grabbed him and Armin snarled in return, his teeth snapping at the retreating hand. The rough growl that ripped out from the alpha’s throat told him that the alpha wasn’t too happy with that had him instinctively wanting to submit out of fear Armin dropped into a crouch and backed away slowly into another alpha who wrestled him into a headlock. Armin growled kicking and writhing trying his best to throw the alpha off. Years of living on the streets had turned the alphas into tenacious beings and no matter how many punches or bites Armin had given the other alpha, the alpha still stood firm. Spots danced in his eyes and Armin gasped for air. The slight slack he felt in the arm around his neck gave him the advantage he needed to throw the man off. A swift kick to the man’s temple left the man staggering and failing to guard himself in time earned him another swift kick to the stomach. Body still reeling from the lack of oxygen, Armin stumbled into another street. This time, the buildings looked a lot friendlier albeit the lack of people on the street. A few more steps had his phone ringing out with the shrill noise of his GPS that was finally able to confirm his location.

                ‘You have reached your destination. You have reached your destination.’ Warily Armin looked around and finally spotted Erwin’s office signboard. Armin started to run. His body heaving with exhaustion, Armin’s mind spun and barely had the will power to fight against the sharp bark had him on his knees within a heartbeat.

“Kneel.” It took awhile for Armin to realize that he had been forced to submit. His mind hazy and he felt that he could barely breathe. His body broke out in cold sweat and if the alpha didn’t release his hold soon, Armin would fall slave to this alpha. _Eren. Erwin. Eren. Erwin._ Armin chanted in his mind trying to chase away the haze. His throat was raw and in the back of his mind he could hear screaming but it sounded far away. Then all of a sudden the pressure disappeared and everything came back in a rush. The screaming he heard grew louder and louder and Armin realized with a start that it came from him. A firm yet gentle tug to his arm helped Armin up as he scrambled up mind still in shambles. Before he knew it, he was pressed up against the wall by a hard yet familiar back. _Eren._

                A thousand different emotions flitted through Eren’s mind the minute he pulled up into the street. His worry grew stronger each time he sped into different streets to only be greeted by more ash grey walls. Eventually his ears picked up Armin’s voice screaming his name and who he presumed was Armin’s mate. He had presumed that Armin would be quick enough to escape. _But not quick enough._ The minute he turned into the street Eren jumped out of the car and immediately pounced on the alpha that kept Armin on the ground giving the man a sharp right hook that knocked him out. Hastily grabbing Armin he pulled him behind himself, backing into a wall. Armin’s squeak had Eren growling again letting his body shift. The next person who tried to grab Armin earned a face full of sharp claws. Eren was fast weaving back and forth between strikes spinning to throw his elbow into the alphas face. Eren’s movements were fluid giving the alphas no space to breathe as he threw one attack after another in a steady flow.

                “ARMIN!” Erwin felt conflicted, he growled unconsciously seeing another alpha pressed up against his mate and that he wanted to tear into every alpha present, but another part of his mind that has been trained to take into account different situations registered the fact that the alpha was protecting his mate and should commend him. _He is mine!_ Erwin had growled throwing a sharp and loud alpha call and the omega in Armin surged with joy at the sight of his alpha and responded in kind with a cry. And at that moment, Eren’s body decided it had enough of stress and threw up, dropping to the ground, his heat returning in waves. Erwin stilled. The alpha that had been protecting Armin was actually an omega? The omega was built up to the point that he actually looked like an alpha. Tall, with a defined body that would have only developed from years of fighting and not just going to the gym.

                “Commander we got it from here! Take your mate and his friend and go!” Hanji yelled. The smell of Eren’s heat had started to throw the alphas into a frenzy. Erwin rushed forward and grabbed Armin throwing Eren over his shoulder.

                “CAR!” he barked and Armin ran forwards throwing open the back door of Eren’s car. Erwin carefully placed Eren in the back seat and rushed to the front of the car. Multiple snarls and the sound of bones crunching almost made him turn around to join the fray. Armin’s sobbing however brought him back to the present and gruffly he pushed himself into the car and sped off. Eren’s heat smelled potent and although shouldn’t have affected him at all, was slowly creeping around him teasing him into a forceful rut. It was said that once an alpha chooses a mate, the alpha is usually unable to be affected by another omega’s heat until he bonds with his mate. This brought Erwin to shake it off and grab Armin’s hand bringing his wrist to his face inhaling in deeply. His scent calmed him down enough to clearly think now. Armin had seemed to overcome his shock and his sobbing was now bordering hysterical; Erwin decided that it was best to bring both of them to his house seeing how Armin was incapable of talking. The minute they arrived, Erwin kicked down his house door and carried the now squirming Eren into the living room with Armin trudging up the porch a little overwhelmed. Little cries and whimpers escaped the omega and the alpha in Erwin tried to keep him rooted to the spot with his instincts screaming at him to stay vigil and protect this unmated omega, but the need to comfort his own mate was stronger and Erwin, deciding to do both, deftly picked up Armin, cradled him and crooned. It was rough and obviously unpracticed but Armin calmed down quickly, almost falling asleep to the deep rumbles that spread throughout Erwin’s chest, his tears soaking into Erwin's shirt. The slam of the front door bursting open however brought him quickly down to reality. A loud, sharp cry of fear escaped him and Erwin had leapt to his feet with a loud growl, his fingers sharpening into deadly claws, muscles tight. His scent rose in the air thick and potent serving as the only warning anyone would get to run away in terror.

                “Calm your shit down Erwin it’s me. Why the fuck didn’t you call me? I had to drag everything out from Hanji and you know how she can be.” Levi called out slamming the door shut. Erwin took multiple deep breaths to calm down gripping Armin to help. Armin made a small sound, an omega cry as he buried his hands in Erwin’s hair stroking it soothing him. His growl faded slowly as the tension washed out from his body dropping his head on Armin’s shoulder. Levi took a deep breath from where he stood. The scent of arousal filled the house, thick and teasing, along with the scent of his mate.

                “Shit. Erwin. Tell me the fuck why that brat, in his heat, is doing here.” Levi growled unconsciously taking two steps towards the living room as if pulled by a magnet.

                “Levi, you know this kid?” Erwin questioned. Levi glared at him and Armin withered away with it.

                “He is the one I met by accident in the bookstore... my mate.” And with that, Levi’s scent finally reached Eren, proudly displaying Levi’s rut to the suffering omega. Eren let out a small cry, his omega cry responding to the dominance of the alpha even as he had other plans and leaped out of the couch backing into a corner growling loudly shaking off whatever feeling of submission he felt. Levi had never wanted to jump a person so much as he did now and stared at Eren with desire filled eyes. Levi forced himself to stay put leaning against the doorway, raking preying eyes all over Eren taking in every little detail. His inner alpha rejoiced at the sight of Eren, ready to tear into any alpha that came near him, oozing with anger and aggression he could taste it in the air. Wild and feral. The perfect mate. The brat had never looked more appetizing, with the light sheen of sweat coating his arms and the little pants and jerks as his chest heaved trying to fight off his heat. His ears and tail swishing and twitching and Eren had begun to look more wolf than human. Erwin looked amused. Oh this was a sight to behold. This omega although rejecting Levi, had somehow managed to get the stubborn alpha into a rut. But Armin was anything but amused.

                “No don’t!” He cried running towards Levi trying to push him away from Eren.  “Don’t aggravate him or he will transform!” and true enough Eren was almost fully wolf.

                “Armin. This should be impossible unless he lost his humanity.” Erwin said voice sharp. Armin shook his head.

                “It is passed down! Something in Eren’s blood allows him to transform! He has been doing it since he was a child he hasn’t lost his humanity I swear!” Armin protested pushing Erwin further away from Eren. Both Levi and Erwin stared at Armin in shock, rut forgotten. It was impossible but it was true. The Jaeger line genetically carried an extra hormone or gene that allowed Eren to transform fully into a wolf. It has been passed down from generations and had always been kept in secret for fear they would be hunted down. No one even truly knew how it worked. Eren was fully wolf now but unlike an omega that had lost its humanity, Eren remained defensive growling in fear. His tail swished back and forth and there was a twinkle of intelligence in those gold eyes. Levi sighed, couldn’t his mate be someone a little more easily persuaded? No, maybe not. Levi enjoyed the fire in the omega’s eyes. It was refreshing knowing that there was an omega that wasn’t willing to submit to him immediately due to his strong presence as an alpha or his insanely good looks. All of a sudden Levi lunged grabbing at Eren’s muzzle. Eren jumped in fright teeth snapping just next to the space where Levi’s hands just were and squeaked in shock when Levi tackled him down throwing his whole weight on the poor boy and pressed an arm down on his muzzle to keep it on the ground. Helplessly Eren struggled, his hind legs scrambling uselessly against the carpeted floor. Part of Eren acknowledged the fact that the person trying to get him to yield was his mate and to just surrender, but another, larger part of Eren wanted nothing to do with forced submission or ending up a slave to an alpha. Eren growled. _You’re heavy._ Levi sighed.

                “Look here you shitty brat. I won’t lie to you and I’m sure you have by now figured out that I’m fucking yours. You’ve got me in a shitty rut kid but I swear I won’t jump you. I give you my word. Now, don’t you dare try snapping my hand off again”. Levi got off Eren and stood in front of him, eyes lowered slightly and the strong scent of alpha dwindling. Eren’s eyes widened and slowly he morphed back. It must have taken a lot for the alpha to do that.

                “It hurts…” Eren whimpered, his ears flattening against his head. Erwin quickly ushered a half conscious Armin out. His nose had started to sting with Armin’s forced heat and needed to get both Armin and himself far away from the other two as possible. Any longer they would either witness something they didn’t really need to see or Armin would have fully succumbed into a rather painful heat by the overpowering scent of arousal Eren gave out. Slowly Levi wrapped his arms around Eren lifting the omega up. Eren keened in bliss at the alphas touch. Sighing with the relief that washed over him, pushing days of pain past him so different from when it was someone like Jean who tried to help him. Eren found himself relishing in the alphas touch as he was carried upstairs. Wanting to forget his supposed pride as an alpha, his reasoning’s, just wanted to let go of it all. But he couldn’t.

                “No. NO!” Eren cried. “You bastard! You said you wouldn’t mate me! You can’t!” Eren struggled out of Levi’s arms trying his best to break free. Levi rolled his eyes.

                “And I won’t. I won’t break my promise so fucking easily shitty brat. Now stop struggling before I throw you down the stairs.” Eren sighed in relief and sagged down in the alphas arms, but not for long. His body was itching as if on fire. Just feeling the material of his shirt rubbing against his skin brought more pain than any rash would. The bed didn’t help either, the bedding felt as if it was a nest of bracken, rough and prickly. Each movement brought on a different kind of pain and squirming to hide his arousal did nothing to soothe his irritated skin. Levi glared at him.

                “Shitty brat, don’t mess up my bed.” Levi snapped throwing his shirt off. Eren turned beat red and his face in his hands. The air shifted and the room was filled with the scent the omega released, full of want and desire.

                “Oho… I thought you didn’t want to mate.” Levi smirked and Eren shook his head.

                “I don’t! But it hurts. It hurts so much Levi” Eren gasped. Levi sighed and slowly walked to the bed. Eren shrank back. A cool hand on his arm had him reeling with the touch and the next thing Eren knew he was naked and leaning against a well defined chest. Eren moaned, squirming and shivering as his skin slid against Levi’s. “What are you doing?!” Levi rolled his eyes and with one hand tore Eren’s shirt into a long thin strip.

                “Hush brat. I promised I wouldn’t mate you but you are making so much damn noise as if you’re in fucking agony and there is no way I can hold myself back like that. Now just shut up and let me comfort you before I lose it.” Levi shushed before wrapping the thin sheet around Eren’s eyes. “Now, just listen to my voice brat. Just shut everything out and focus on this.” Levi’s hand slowly closed around Eren’s length stroking softly.

                “ _Hngghh!!”_ Eren moaned gritting his teeth. Levi chuckled moving his hand at a very slow pace. Eren was drenched, not only in sweat but in his own slick that coated his thighs and pre-cum that dripped onto his stomach. The lack of sight contributed to his already heightened sense of scent and sound. He felt perplexed with his own voice making more and more debauched sounds together with the scent he released, needy and full of want.

                “ _Haah-ah_ …” A thumb running over the head had Eren slamming his hips up into Levi’s hand. It was too much. Eren couldn’t take it, before he knew it he was growling loudly rutting up into Levi’s slowly moving hand. Pushing two fingers into Eren’s gasping mouth; Levi tried his best to hold back from pushing Eren down and forcefully mating the omega. The scent of Levi’s growing arousal filled the air so thick and potent Eren could taste it throwing his mind into further disarray. Levi’s hand tightened on Eren’s length to the point it should have been painful but Eren, mind overtaken by lust, felt nothing but pleasure.

                “ _Pleaseee_ …” Eren whined full of need, his voice raspy and soft. Eren could barely recognize his own voice. Didn’t bother, didn’t care. He needed more. He was so close. Eren’s skin felt hotter than it should be, his heat ravaging his skin and Levi bit his neck slowly, sucking and licking it with the gentleness he should not possess while in rut. Eren felt as if he was going to explode from just the feel of the hot breath on his ear. Levi’s free hand teased his entrance, finding it more than ready showing Levi how much his body wanted it. Levi slowly slid two fingers inside the alpha and stayed still waiting for Eren to adjust and continued to stay still as Eren whimpered and gasped as he tried to breathe through the pure bliss that filled him, voice crying out in wanton desire. It overflowed from him in waves, taking over all his senses, leaving him bare and vulnerable to his alpha. His. Eren’s body screamed at him to give in and surrender to this alpha. To forget and give everything up in return for this never ending pleasure.

“ _Oh god… Levi-ii”_ Eren’s breathed, voice hitching as desire painted him all over sharpening to a rather painful degree. His vision a pure white as his body twisted, tensing up. Levi hummed twisting his fingers slowly bending and rubbing them against slick covered walls rutting up against Eren when he grinded down on him. Levi knew he found it when Eren cried out loudly, his length throbbing in his hand and dug his fingers into Eren’s prostrate determined to make Eren cry out again. Levi bit down on Eren’s neck harshly, drawing blood.

“ _L-evi! hngghh_ ” Eren moaned. It was too much and felt too good. His ears rang as spots danced behind his closed eyelids. His hands fisted in Levi’s hair gripping it tightly and screamed in pleasure as he came wreaked under the touch of this alpha, pleasure washing over him in waves. He never wanted to let go. Wanted to remain a slave to this pleasure. He had never experienced such a feeling of ecstasy and feeling a thousand different emotions at once. Eren was shaking and shivering with the high of his climax lingering, teeth biting into his lip with ferocity.

                Slowly Levi lowered Eren onto the bed slipping out from under him. Knowing sheets would irritate his skin further Levi found the huge silk scarf Hanji had gotten for him as a joke during Christmas last year and wrapped Eren around in it. It was an ugly thing, pale cream with bright red stripes running along the length. ‘The candy cane scarf’ Hanji had so eloquently put it. Levi had wanted to throw it out immediately but Hanji persuaded him to keep it saying it would come in handy one day. Reminding himself to stash it away before Hanji popped over not wanting to see Hanji’s smug face. By the time he undid the sheet around Eren’s eyes, the omega had dozed off, looking rather relaxed and satisfied, smiling adorably in his sleep.

                “Tch. Cute brat.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed it! thanks for reading! if you have any inputs feel free to comment!


	4. Wistful Dancing

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hehe i hope you will enjoy this chapter. I have to apologize not only for the rigid Erwin Armin relationship in the first half of this chapter, but also for the extremely late update. Whoops. Don't worry, there will be more fluffy Erwin and Armin in the future but for now, Erwin needs to understand the significance of Armin in Eren's life, which is not just to keep him out of trouble.
> 
> Thanks for reading!!~

                Erwin had faced many situations before, but never in his 15 years of being an alpha has he ever needed to face such a predicament. Erwin thought nothing could ever get to him anymore; he realized that he was sadly mistaken as he gazed upon his half naked mate on the bed, obviously trying to seduce him. Erwin frowned. “What’s wrong Erwin?”Armin said, shooting Erwin a predatory smile.

                “You truly are a vixen” Erwin glowered. Armin yawned and stretched, body twisting under the sheets, soft groans of content escaping him as his face split into a wide grin. Sure Erwin had mated before, but only with willing omegas that needed relief during their heat. Hell he wouldn’t even deny the fact that he had slept with Levi during his first rut before Levi became an alpha. But finally finding a mate and having a relationship instead of one with no strings attached left him dumfounded on how to react. He was a strong alpha and a good fuck, but he had no idea on how to approach the idea of a relationship without messing up one way or another. “You’ll definitely be the death of me one day” Erwin groaned leaning down on top of Armin. Armin giggled.

                “You love me.” he admonished pulling Erwin down into a deep kiss, chasing away all the tiny knots of worry that had formed in his stomach earlier. It had taken almost an hour to arrive at Eren and Armin’s home as Armin kept worrying, wanting to turn back and get Eren despite the reassurance Erwin gave that Levi wouldn’t do anything Eren didn’t want to. Armin was confused as to why Erwin brought them both to his house in the first place and was terrified Eren would do something that he would deeply regret in the future. Erwin had explained that taking Eren somewhere to calm down quickly was better than having his heat drag around in the car, not to mention that Armin himself had been a blubbering mess and would probably had no energy to fight off a forced heat. “It was a good idea to trust my instincts” Erwin said. “After all, Eren ended up with his mate, he wouldn’t have to go through such a painful heat in the end.” Armin sighed and bit his lip. Eren was… complicated.

                The one thing Armin hated the most was being selfish, but being here, in Erwin’s arms, Armin wanted to forget everything about Eren and the situation. Was it so wrong to want to be selfish? Armin needed, no, wanted to stay and take care of Eren. He wanted to stay and make sure Eren was okay although he knew staying would only make things worse. He couldn’t help it and he had never wanted to smack himself so hard before. There is nothing to worry about, Eren wasn’t here, and he was being properly taken care of.

                “Armin…” Erwin called tapping his forehead against his lightly. Armin had zoned out staring at the ceiling above Erwin’s head.

                “Yes?” Armin snapped back to attention.

                Erwin shook his head. “You were spacing out.” Armin lowered his eyes. He couldn’t help it. Eren was too much to handle, but too fragile to let go.

                “Tell me Armin.” Erwin said all lust and playfulness disappearing in an instant. “Tell me what is wrong with Eren. Why is he trying so hard to be an alpha and why you, can’t leave him alone.”

                “Erwin I’m sorry…” Armin sighed, as he turned away and tried to slip out of bed. He would have told Erwin everything if not for Erwin’s job was and he knew that if Erwin had gotten involved, things wouldn’t run so smoothly for Eren, whatever it was. Erwin is a member of a force that focuses on the rights and protection of omegas, sort of like a safe house for omegas and alphas (if necessary), as well as the eradication Titans, which are both alphas and omegas that have lost their humanity, that strayed too close to the city. That’s why Armin had freaked out when Eren started to turn and Armin wasn’t stupid. He knew Erwin would take Eren’s situation too seriously and try his best to look into it no matter how much he protested.  To him, Eren would look like a troubled omega that needs saving such is his self-righteous character. A part of Armin wanted to tell, the part where curiosity bested him, wanting to find out exactly why Eren was behaving as he is. Wanting to be free of constant worry and sleepless nights, wanting to fix Eren so badly and longing to have his best friend back.

                “No Armin.” Erwin protested in all seriousness, gently pinning Armin to the bed. “Please tell me, I need to know. If it’s not for me or Eren, it’s for the sake of my best friend that is his mate. Please Armin, tell me, and I promise I won’t act out of turn.” Armin stared into Erwin’s eyes, seeing his own image reflect there, in those pools of bright blue. Erwin was serious, he realized.

                “Alright… but you need to promise me one thing.” Armin muttered grimly, guilt flooding him like a waterfall. _I’m sorry Eren…_ Erwin nodded. “You need to promise to not get involved with Eren’s life. Not unless he needs it.” Wriggling out of Erwin’s grasp, Armin pulled himself up into a sitting position and leaned against the headboard.  “To be completely honest with you Erwin, I myself do not know why Eren tries so hard to be an alpha. In fact, when he presented himself as an alpha, we agreed with it and didn’t think twice about it. Eren… he always had this passive aggressive personality ever since Grisha, Eren’s father, died, Eren turned from a curious happy kid to this always angry kid. We thought he just resented the Red Titan that killed Grisha, but it seemed more than that.”

                “Red Titan?” Erwin questioned, looking curiously at Armin despite his grim expression. “It’s what we, Mikasa, Eren and I, called the alphas that lost their humanity. Subsequently we called the omegas that lost their humanity, Blues. We came up with the name when the first Red we saw was a giant wolf with a copper coat and the Blue next to it was a panther.” Armin replied, gazing softly at Erwin, eyes lost in memories.

                “For about a year after presenting himself Eren carried on as an alpha, every bit as dominating and every bit as proud. Despite Eren’s lack of scent, no one suspected a thing. We figured that he was one of those alphas who only give out a really strong scent when they are in rut but we never expected him to turn out to be an omega. We found out during a get together with our friends that we had because Mikasa finally came back from training overseas. Eren was tasked with making food and therefore stayed in the kitchen majority of the time. We were honestly shocked that he turned out to be a decent cook, I mean, the look on Jean’s face when he learned that the risotto we ate was made by Eren was priceless. Everything was great and we had a good time…” Armin trailed off wistfully. “But when the rest of us in the living room were messing around with the Xbox, a strong scent of heat flooded the room. We were confused; I mean even with such a potent heat, it didn’t get anyone in a rut. Not only that, most of us has not presented ourselves yet and the ones that did were only Jean, Eren, Ymir and I. Ymir and I were quickly ruled out because Ymir is a beta and doesn’t go into heat and my own heat had already passed. The only ones were left were either Jean or Eren. Jean was with us and there was not a trace of heat on him. We were still under the impression that Eren was an alpha so we began to check if anyone in the room were having their first heat. When we realized that no one in the room was in heat, we started to suspect that Eren was not all that he said he was. Mikasa was the first to run with the rest of us bolting after her to the kitchen. True enough we found Eren collapsed unable to move from his heat that nearly killed him and worse still he begged us to not take him to the hospital.” Armin sighed. “I’m just more amazed than anything with Eren’s sheer willpower to remain an alpha and not grow insane. And honestly, I’m shocked he still has a brain considering how stupid he has become recently.” He huffed rolling his eyes. “That’s about it, we questioned him but he never really answered it and just growled out how much he hated the alpha race and wanted to kill them all like some psychopath.”

                Bewilderment enveloped Erwin in such a way, it felt akin to a squall. There were so many holes in the story it didn’t take a genius to figure out that Eren was hiding something. But even with his sharp mind, he couldn’t figure out why no one had pushed Eren or tried to find out more. Erwin could already figure out multiple reasons as to why Eren was behaving as such but grew irritated knowing that he could not do anything without Armin’s permission. His body itched with the need to help Eren. “I’m just worried he will break one day from the stress of being an alpha.” Armin said breaking Erwin out of his internal musing.  Erwin’s gaze softened.

                “Sleep Armin. You need it.” Erwin commanded pulling Armin down into the sheets wrapping his arms around the tiny mushroom. Armin yawned and slowly drifted off to sleep snuggling comfortably in Erwin’s giant bear hug.

                Erwin however stayed awake, unable to sleep as his mind processed everything Armin had said. This was beyond anything he has dealt with. Erwin needed to speak with Levi. No doubt the other alpha was dying to know about his own mate whether he admits it or not. Carefully Erwin planned on how to approach the subject. He needed to be two steps ahead to ensure nothing went wrong, especially with such little information. Erwin would make sure that slowly but surely, all the little missing pieces would fall into place and Erwin would soon be able to free Eren from whatever monsters that were tormenting him.

* * *

                “Are you hungry brat? You slept all day.” Levi growled lightly, nudging Eren awake. The sun had set awhile ago and Levi had begun to worry when Eren stubbornly remained dead to the world after 3 days of staying cooped in the room. Eren’s heat had returned in waves each time he woke up only to fall back asleep after Levi helped ‘relieve’ him. A loud crash and a loud shocked squeal had Levi frowning and massaging his temples.

                “What did you break this time shitty glasses?” Levi snapped. Eren sat up quickly, a little confused and disoriented but curious to know who, Eren figured was a beta, was. He was more amazed at how he, or she, could even stand being in the house. Once their mate is in heat, an alphas scent naturally change to one that oozed possessiveness and aggression that is used to serve as a warning to other alphas and even betas to steer clear away from them for the time being. The scent of both their heat and rut would be proudly displayed in the air as proof that both parties were claimed; _I am his/hers, and he/she is mine, we are not for you_. The force of the scent was strong enough that anyone within a 200 meter radius would be able to sense it. An alpha wouldn’t be able to even step into the house, let alone the porch for the scent alone would make anyone run away in fear. If an alpha carelessly angers a rutting alpha, it would most definitely end up in a huge fight, with neither alpha backing own. Well not until one of them surrenders, or in the worst cases, die. At times, if an alpha dominates another alpha that is trying protect its mate, that dominant would be able to claim the omega has his own; and they do so by using forced submission, especially when the omega isn’t willing. But as time passed, this practice became heavily frowned upon and eventually ceased. It became increasingly evident that Levi was trying his best to hold back from throwing the beta out of the house.  The Alpha was sweating profusely and biting his lip. His hands were clenched into tight fists that began to drip blood, as his claws dug into his skin. His ears were stuck in mid transformation, and so was his tail, as he fought hard to refuse the urge to pin the beta down just for the joy of dominating and showing his superiority. Levi needed to feel it, the flesh between his teeth as he bites into the beta’s neck, the cries as the beta would submit and the taste of victory. It was sickening.

                “GODDAMNIT HANJI. Fucking hurry up! I’m losing my shit here!” Levi yelled pinning Eren down onto the bed throwing his face into Eren’s neck breathing in his scent deeply. Eren stiffened unconsciously fighting back before forcing himself to relax. He knew Levi needed this, needed reassurance to calm down knowing that no one would touch his mate. If Levi had never been possessive before, he certainly was now.

                “Calm down my possessive little angry gnome! I’m just clearing up.” Hanji laughed out loud. The answering snarl that ripped from Levi’s throat was loud and terrifying. Immediately in response, Eren made a sound, his omega cry, to try and calm Levi down, his hands disappearing into the alphas short undercut and rubbing his wrists all over his neck, especially over his scent glands. He hoped scent marking him was enough. The small chuckle Hanji had let out could be heard from the room and Eren was left amazed. This woman knew no fear. The force of Levi’s scent was overpowering, filling the room and Eren found it hard to breathe. He could barely even smell the food that Hanji must be cooking. The sharp teeth he felt on his neck the next second however had him yelping and tearing away from Levi’s harsh grip.

                “Hanji!” Eren cried out alarmed. “Get out now!” There was a loud sigh and the front door slammed shut. “Shh Levi, Levi she is gone. Look at me, she is gone and I am here. No one is going to take me away I promise. Calm down. Levi please calm down!” Eren cried out to the snarling Levi glaring at the door. Levi’s ears twitched at the sound of the omegas voice filled with fear. Fear of him. Levi shook his head, his ears receding.

                “Sorry brat.” Levi growled out, his voice raspy and rough. Eren smiled weakly and held out his hands as if trying to tame a wild animal. Levi’s eyebrow twitched. “I am not a shitty animal stupid brat.” Eren grinned although it wavered.

                “I’m hungry oh great but stupid alpha, but I can’t stand up.” Eren muttered.

                “Wait till you get fucked brat.” Levi smirked and chuckled when Eren’s features visibly shifted into a horrified look. Levi just smirked picking Eren up and helped him into a pair of boxers and a shirt. Hanji had done a pretty good job in preparing food, with a giant heap of spaghetti and a big bowl full of sauce and meatballs. But the massive amount of dishes left behind in the sink from her running out earlier caused both of them to sigh. Levi tried his best to ignore the filth in his sink as both of them dug into the food, famished.

                “You know you are lucky Erwin spotted you from his office shitty brat. I doubt either one of you idiots would even make it out of that situation alive if he hadn’t stepped in.” Levi said twisting a long strand of spaghetti on his fork.

                “I could have managed it.” Eren snapped shoveling food into his mouth.

                “Not from what I heard. I was told your suppressants wore off and you fucking puked before collapsing.” Levi pointed out smirking. He was enjoying riling up the brat like this. He waited for a loud annoying comeback or even or the brat to argue but Eren just glowered and silently ate in defeat. Levi sighed. _At least he knows when to quit._

* * *

 

 

                “Brat, don’t touch anything.” Levi snapped over the rush of running water. Eren rolled his eyes eyeing the power button as his fingers playfully messed with the buttons on the stereo. He felt loads better; his body had stopped aching and his skin less sensitive than before. His heat was ending and he had never felt happier.

                “Just lighten up Levi.” Eren groaned and jabbed the button down determined to not let the stubborn alpha kill his joy. Immediately a slow upbeat song filled the room as the soothing voice filtered through the speakers. Eren giggled and slowly moved to the beat. This was something he loved doing, and nothing not even fighting could replace it. Throwing his shirt off, he blamed his flagrant flaunting on the remnants of his hormones pumping through his veins as he rolled his hips and danced, throwing his dignity out the window. It was just so easy to stop everything and let music fill your mind as it blanks. There are no worries, no pain, nothing. It’s just the deep beat of the bass as it slowly seeps into your system and gets you to move. The song shifted to one with a faster and more aggressive beat that had Eren throwing his hands up in the air, twisting his hips and spinning around before sensually running his hands down his body. Eren was so into the music that he did not realize the sound of running water had stopped. Nor did he realize the eyes that raked down his body. _I used to hold my freak back, now I’m letting go, I make my own choice._ Eren slowly opened his eyes letting his gaze linger on Levi’s face, a small smirk gracing his face. Levi had a hungry expression on as Eren slowly danced his way to the alpha mouthing the lyrics.

 _It’s time to get the chains out_  
Is your tongue tied up?  
This is my ground  
And I’m dangerous  
And you can get off

 _But it’s all about me tonight_ … “Oh really brat?” Levi chuckled. Eren smiled.

                “Dance with me…” Eren whispered wrapping his arms around Levi. “No shitty brat.” Levi replied narrowing his eyes. _So you say I’m complicated, that I must be outta my mind. But you had me underrated._ Undeterred Eren continued to dance around Levi. The song had changed again and this song in particular had Eren grinding his hips against Levi as he pulled off a smooth body wave against him. Eren tugged Levi further into the living room trying his best to get Levi to dance with him. Slowly but surely the music got to Levi, like a drug, dark and sensual, moving through his body like a spell that slowly took his consciousness and left him empty. Levi sighed and decided to humor the kid. His body slowly moved to match Eren’s quick and precise movements with slower softer ones. It was beautiful. The sight of both of them dancing together would have made anyone who managed to catch a glimpse to stop and stare in awe. Their steps fluid as they moved together with wave after wave of movements rolled into one single smooth flowing dance. With an almost determined look on his face, Eren backed Levi into the couch forcing him to sit down and straddling him with the flow of a professional dancer. Slowly, almost hesitantly Eren danced, shivering as Levi’s hands roamed up his bare sides, fingers wrapping around his body as he nipped and kissed Eren’s neck and chest leaving dark red spots to blossom on his chest. Groaning it took all of Eren to focus on dancing, trying to give Levi a proper lap dance. Eren may not be particularly talented in many things but he was a quick learner and soon figured out how to rile him up with each brush of his hips.

                “Damn brat, where do you learn to dance like that.” Levi groaned rutting up against Eren. Eren blushed and hastily brought his lips down onto Levi’s in an attempt to distract him. Damn the brat could move. Levi was astounded. Eren had perfect control over his body and the lap dance he gave was the best one Levi had received yet. It wasn’t rough and practiced like how most people did it, which consisted of more grinding than anything else in a vain attempt to get people turned on. There was something about Eren’s innocent dancing that made the whole thing a lot more appealing than it should be. It was like watching a piece of artwork spread out in front of his very eyes. Each brush of Eren’s hips likened to the smooth stroke of the paint brush as it glided along the paper creating something beautiful and amazing in the process. Eren’s lips glided smoothly against his as Levi’s tongue delved into Eren’s mouth, tasting all of Eren as the omega responded in fervor. Each movement the boy made was smooth and fluid, the total opposite of his usual character, harsh and aggressive, like a little kid who is angry at the world. Breaking the kiss, Eren leaned back dancing to the last few beats of the music and mouthed the last few words. _I wanna hear you calling my name…_ Levi smirked and with a completely straight face, he leaned closer to Eren and monotonously called out his name breaking the spell.

                “Eren.” Eren stared at Levi in shock before bursting out in laughter falling onto the space next to Levi. Levi tried to keep a straight face, but his laughter proved infectious and Levi turned his head away in a hopeless attempt to hide his laughter that was so unlike his character. Eren, still grinning from ear to ear peaked up at Levi marveling at his expression. _Beautiful._ Eren shook his head hoping he did not say that out loud. He would rather not die tonight.

                “You got me there brat.” Levi snickered pulling Eren into a sweet, sweet kiss. It was soft and gentle and left Eren breathless and melting into a puddle like a high school girl who received her first kiss. As Levi pulled him flushed against his body, something in Eren clicked and had him scrambling away from Levi, scaring himself at how unwilling he was to break away from Levi’s embrace.

                “Um, we should sleep…” Eren admonished lamely at the confused look on the alphas face. Holy shit Eren thought, if Jean had heard him, he would never live it down. “I mean, I’m really tired…” Eren muttered turning away from the flash of hurt that passed through the alphas eyes. Levi stood up fixing Eren with an unreadable expression before moving to turn off the stereo. Eren wanted to do something, to say something to rid of the uncomfortable air but the only thing he could think of was apologizing and that would just make the situation a lot worse than it already was.

                “Lets go then brat.” Levi said gruffly. Levi wasn’t stupid; he knew the brat was hiding something and felt guilty for pushing the brat like that. It had been a long time since he regretted anything he did but here he was regretting that last kiss he gave the teal eyed brat. He knew Eren wasn’t expecting any lingering feelings and Levi berated himself for getting attached. Fuck he was exhausted and was asleep by the time his head hit the pillow, his arm casually draped over Eren’s waist as the boy buried his face deeper into the pillows as if trying his best to forget everything that happened the past few days.

                By the time Levi had woken up the next morning, Eren had gone leaving nothing but his scent lingering on his skin.

* * *

 

                “I can’t believe you snuck out. That’s a low even for you.” Jean snapped on the way back to Eren’s house. “Heck I’m surprised I’m not turning around this second to force you to go back to him. Hell I’m wondering why I even picked you up.”

                “Shut up Jean. It’s none of your business.” Eren growled punching the dashboard. “He may be my mate, but I chose to be an alpha and that’s final.” The car pulled to a stop, tires screeching against the road.

                “Why are you so stubborn? WHY CAN’T YOU ACCEPT WHO YOU ARE?!” Jean screamed as Eren hastily got out, slamming the door shut with so much force the car shook. Eren ignored him and stalked up the porch flinging the door open and slammed it shut. Jean groaned and smacked his head against the steering wheel. He couldn’t help but lose his temper around Eren who refused to listen to reason or even tell him the reason as to why he was so adamant on remaining an alpha. Despite his attitude toward him, Jean wished for nothing more than Eren to be happy. He genuinely felt overjoyed when he found out that Eren found his mate hoping that he would give up on all the alpha business. Sighing, he couldn’t help but feel sorry for whoever Eren’s mate was.

                “Jean is still outside Eren… why do you guys always have to argue?” Armin said berating Eren.

                “Never mind that, where is Erwin?” Eren asked looking and sniffing around for the alpha.

                “You just missed him. He left not too long ago, he said he had to discuss something with Levi urgently after getting a call from someone.” Armin replied, leaning against the sofa. “Are you alright?” Armin prodded, his hands ghosting along Eren’s face in a hesitant attempt to check for a temperature.

                “I’m fine Ar… just let me sleep.” Eren muttered and curled up on the sofa. “Go get horse face out of here…” Armin sighed. Whatever Erwin had stayed up planning better work.

* * *

 

                “Levi.” Erwin called snapping Levi out from his reverie.

                “What is it shitty brows?” Levi snapped. His mood deteriorated ever since Eren snuck out leaving him cold and alone in his room without so much of a note. The rest of the morning was spent brooding and watching pointless episodes of shows that he didn’t even follow, taking full advantage of the fact that he had been flat out dumped and rejected and proceeded to brood and languish in his misery by drowning in multiple tubs of ice-cream, swearing at everything and anything and ignorimg the alpha in him that demanded him to track down and chase after Eren, to take him back and claim him by force if necessary. 

                “Shadis called. It’s time.”


	5. Shiganshina Military Training School

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And..... finally an update, i know i'm so sorry QAQ... Please don't kill me!  
> I've been so busy with barely any time and motivation to write and i didn't want to put something up that lacked any standard. We finally get to see the more serious side to Eren and Armin's life and looks like trouble is steadily brewing!  
> Also i edited my previous chapter (4) to fit my story. Its an extremely minor change that can be ignored.  
>  
> 
> OMGGGG I JUST REALIZED THAT MY LAST PARA WAS CUT SHORT WHEN I PASTED MY WORK! IM SOSOSOSOSO SORRY!!! QAQ

                “EREN WAKE UP OR WE ARE GONNA BE LATE!!!!” Armin yelled, pounding his fist on Eren’s door. The silence that answered him save for the loud groan that resounded through the door had Armin sighing as he pressed his forehead against the door. “Come on Eren… don’t make me drag you out please?”

                “That door had never stopped you before.” Eren snapped throwing a pillow at the door hoping the loud thump was enough to deter the stubborn omega. Anger surged through Armin and he slammed the door open startling the so called alpha. He had enough of Eren moping around ever since he returned from Erwin’s house. After a few angry calls from a furious Jean who was still parked outside the house, Eren had stormed up into his room slamming the door shut. Jean had left a while after that but Eren had holed himself up in the room, refusing to talk or set foot outside his bedroom door the rest of the week, not even for meals. Quite frankly, Armin was irritated.

               Armin stood at the foot of the bed and gazed around the room, pointedly ignoring Eren’s intense glare that sent shivers down his spine. _Crap he really is in deep._ Multiple paintings scattered around the room, each one holding not-so-subtle hints of the raven haired alpha as Eren subconsciously tried to block him out. Paint and newspaper littered the floor, the bed and the walls.

                “You can’t remain in art mode forever Eren… besides its initiation day. You have been waiting for this for ages remember?” Armin pressed.

                “What’s the point Ar? Your mate is in the Survey Corps, once he sees me and finds out who I am, it’s one word from him and I’m out. What makes you think he will accept me into the SC after what I did to Levi? I’m sure he hates me now anyways.” Eren spat out, and stormed into the bathroom.

                “The SC is not so credulous as to immediately act on one soldier’s dislike over another. Erwin is not the kind of person who lets his personal life affect his work Eren. Besides, he doesn’t hate you, he isn’t Levi’s caretaker. He just doesn’t agree with how you did it, with no explanation. Not to him, not to Levi… and not to me.” Armin replied, sitting on the bed as his expression darkened. He would not deny the hurt he felt with the fact that Eren was so adamant to keep him in the dark, even after being with him for many many years. “Find your wings…” Armin started in a last attempt to persuade Eren.

                “And they will carry you to freedom… yeah yeah …” Eren finished, peeking out from behind the door, toothbrush in hand. “I’m already getting ready aren’t I?” he growled running a hand through his hair. Armin grinned.

                “I’ll get your mask.”

* * *

                Eren sighed as he fixed the straps and buckles of his mask before tilting to one side to adjust the pressure valve for a steadier air flow. His teal green eyes met molten silver ones as Armin sent him a silent plea for help. Reaching out to Armin, he wordlessly turned him around and expertly zipped up his mask and buckled it tight. Armin nodded thanks, while both of them jogged over to the waiting spot where they met up with Sasha who was trying her hardest to finish adjusting the straps of her uniform.

                “Oh you guys are here!” She said brightening up for a split second before going back to grumbling about the uniform, her own mask slipping off on one side. Armin reached up and gently tugged it back into place and buckled it tighter. His eyes drifted over to Eren and chuckled to himself when Eren paced impatiently.

 Eren grinned the minute the loud call of the siren wailed, screeching through the forest. _Finally._

                “Eren EYES!” Armin hissed as they ran, purely on instinct, responding to the harsh wail of the siren and joined the thundering of multiple footsteps echoing on the ground as the trainees ran towards the arena falling in line with much practice. Eren gritted his teeth as he felt his eyes glaze over, just in time as Instructor Shadis walked past. Armin heaved a sigh. The Shiganshina Military Training School was built for any aspiring young adults who wanted to serve in the military. The training school, or casually known as the fight school was designed to train it’s trainees in preparation for the harsh specialized training they will then receive as recruits in which ever sector they wish to serve in. They are taught the most basic set of military skills that was needed in each division before going through a series of test to ensure that they are well prepared.  And one way the military trained its trainees was by its extremely strict and rigid rules. It wasn’t as if the rules were baseless as the school was brutal, the rules were meant to keep discipline, control and a trainee’s personal life out of the school. For example, one of these rules was that your identity has to remain hidden; this included the color of your eyes which was to remain in its alternate form as well as a mask to conceal your face. It was one way to instill in them that no matter who or what the person is to you, family, friend or even enemy, in the military, they are your comrades and they will have your back as much as you have theirs. You protect and support them no matter what. But of course it was easy to figure out who was who after awhile despite the aliases that had been long forgotten after being rarely used. The masks also blocked the scents of the other recruits as to not have the alphas hold back against the omegas and to prevent them from getting distracted by an omega in heat or an alpha in rut.

                “Today you will be having your last training session!” said Instructor Shadis pacing back and forth. “Each of you will pair up randomly with the person behind you and practice hand to hand combat. HOWEVER, I shall warn you, there are carefully selected senior members of the Survey Corps and the Military Police amongst you so be careful on who you decide to underestimate, they are here to judge you after all. Think of it as your first test.” He said wryly. Harsh whispers broke out amongst the crowd each trying their best to find out who they were although it was almost impossible. The training school was split up into 4 divisions and this time round, the Southern Division had been chosen to host initiation and all the trainees from the 104th batch had been gathered. “Remember to register under which military service you would like to enroll in after training.” Shadis finished monotonously.

                Armin turned around bracing himself only to find a wall of flesh and rippling muscles. His opponent must have noticed the horror in his eyes and towered over him smirking. Blonde, tall, and well built as if the guy had spent his whole life in a gym, he smiled down at Armin, pearly white teeth flashing along with his dark gold eyes. Armin decided it was ugly in comparison to Eren’s.

                “Shame, here I thought I would be able to show of these babies.” He smirked flexing his muscles. Eren glared. Armin said nothing and silently stared at him, gears ticking slowly. “You should be proud you got me as your sparring partner, I mean, common look at me! I’m fucking amazing!” _This guy is a fucking narcissist._ Armin had nothing against loving a person’s self image but seriously, there should be a limit to how much love you show yourself. “Why don’t you go home? Leave the fighting to the big guys. Small weak princesses like you should remain indoors where it’s safe. Or…” his voice dropped. “You could be my bottom bitch and remain a good sex slave for the rest of your precocious life.” Armin rolled his eyes and countered Eren’s glare that grew with each sentence his opponent said. _It’s my fight Eren… stop babying me._ They had started to gather quite a huge crowd with the sheer volume of his opponent’s voice, everyone curious as to how the fight would play out. Even Instructor Shadis looked on with interest. Eren fought the itch do something but kept still as stepping in would make Armin look bad. Armin sighed.

                “Can we just get on with it already?” Armin muttered moving two steps back and one to the right.

                “What’s wrong? Can’t handle my presence?” Mr. Narcissist laughed.

                “Nope. I don’t want to catch your dumb germs.” Armin was being petty, very petty; childish even but found himself enjoying every second of it. “The word is precious. Not precocious. Precocious is basically a child who develops talent at an early age, gifted and intelligent in a way and as much as I’m flattered that you called me that, I believe that the word you were looking for was precious.” He was babbling and didn’t care. He took another two steps to the right and stretched his arms. “If you are so sure I’m going to lose then why don’t you get started already.” Obviously unhappy at being corrected, Narcissist ran forward charging at Armin, almost like a bull. Armin jumped to the side running past him.

                “Come on is that all you got?” He taunted weaving left and right adrenaline pumping through his veins and a dark sense of joy boiled in his chest. Narcissist stepped forward throwing strong punch together with his weight, enough to easily knock a person out. But no matter how strong you punch, if it’s predictable, dodging became fairly easy. Armin easily dodged it and even managed to trip him, albeit not quickly enough letting the punch graze his cheek knocking himself slightly off balance as Narcissist fell. Shaking his head he silently glared at his opponent whose grin of satisfaction was replaced by pure embarrassment as he picked himself up. Armin hissed his voice dripping with sarcasm. “Congratulations, you felt good about landing a tap on a smaller weaker opponent… but I bet that fall felt even better” Narcissist frowned and continued with an onslaught of punches and kicks which was intercepted by Armin. It hurt but the damage was minimal and as long as Armin could predict his opponent’s next move, all he had to do was get out of the way and continue until his opponent was worn out. Or so he thought. The next punch took him by surprise as the heavy blow landed on his shoulder throwing him backwards.

                ‘ _Armin Arlert, definitely not the strongest in the pack but is the best strategist I’ve seen in years of training miserable recruits.’_ Shadis thought his expert eyes unblinking as he watched Armin stumble before shifting his gaze to the other recruit. ‘ _Trainee Yamamoto, I remember seeing him here before his transfer to the Northern division. His attacks are simple and obviously lack any strategy what so ever fully relying on his brute strength to win. But despite that, the 3 years of brutal training each recruit gets would make even the stupidest one a hardened soldier._ ’

                Armin frowned, and slowly realized with every punch Narcissist’s attacks got weaker, but more and more unpredictable. Heh, looks like he underestimated his airheaded opponent; no matter, Armin loved being two steps ahead and happily threw his jacket into Narcissist’s face before running the opposite direction pulling it taut against his face with the strings attached to his jacket before letting go to stab a knife attached to a spring coiled reel, into the ground right behind his opponent's foot. He waited for Narcissist to throw off the jacket before undoing the catch and strings of thin nylon, almost invisible sprung up from the ground flying everywhere in multiple directions wrapping and tightening around Narcissist who dropped to the ground. Armin grinned and picked up his jacket.

                “Looks like I pretty much passed the first round!” Armin giggled lightly and trotted up to Eren, happiness radiating off him in waves. “Don’t fall behind now Hunter!” he said poking Eren softly in the chest, his cool silver eyes meeting warm gold ones. Eren raised his eyebrows in amusement at the use of his long forgotten alias and did his best to fight off the smile that grew under his mask as pride blossomed in his chest.

                “Of course” he replied smoothly. “Mika would have my ass handed to me if I didn’t.”

                “No I won’t!” Mikasa retorted indignant, flipping her long red scarf over her shoulder. Nodding at Armin, she turned to the rest of the recruits who had gathered to watch and yelled.

                “Get back to training!” her voice loud and sharp like the edge of a razor, carrying layers of authority that got even the strongest alpha scrambling to get back to practice. Instructor Shadis huffed and yanked poor Narcissist up to his feet and shoved him to the direction of the mess hall.

                “Trainee Yamamoto, Instructor Shinzo wants to have a word with you.” He snapped and turning to Armin, his eyes softened before nodding. “Good work Arlert, now off to the office.” Armin nearly jumped for joy, obviously buzzed happiness and saluted a little too over-enthusiastically before running towards the office. Eren eyed Armin for a little while longer before whirling around to face his opponent as a small cough broke his thoughts.

                “My my,… aren’t we smitten.” His opponent grinned, his red eyes flashing in amusement. Eren chuckled.

                “Nahh, think extremely protective brother, the little mushroom is not my mate.” Eren replied.

                “You guys look nothing alike and the mushroom was definitely flirting.” He said amusement coating his words as he extended his arm. “The name’s Reznov, from the northern division.”

                “Eren Yeager, Southern Division.” Eren replied gripping Reznov’s forearm tightly. “He’s my childhood friend… we grew up together.” Letting go of his arm, Eren dropped gracefully into a fighting stance. “Let’s get started shall we? Before Instructor Shadis decides to punish us.” It was obvious Reznov was grinning behind the mask as he dropped into a similar stance.

                “Man I almost feel sorry for you for having such an instructor, but yeah! Bring it on!”

                The mock fight between Eren and Reznov was long and brutal with neither side wanting to stop. If given the chance to remove their masks, one could grow terrified with the maniacal grins that spread across their hardened features. Their eyes danced with the sick pleasure of fighting and anyone who didn’t have a mask on would have struggled with the instinct to drop to the ground in pure submission as the air reeked of dominance. It could no longer be called a practice, but rather a show of power and both parties loved it, the atmosphere heavy with their morbid joy. Eren had never felt better after the little run in with Levi during his heat and felt himself grow more and more relaxed with each snarl he elicited fueled by the aggression he displayed in order to dominate Reznov. His head was finally clear and he could breathe again, finally enjoying himself. It wasn’t everyday he found someone who could keep up with him when he fought. Even Jean and Ymir found it difficult to not yield within the first few minutes of fighting with Eren due to his power play. For an omega, he carried his role as an alpha almost too perfectly.

                It was late morning by the time Annie and Mikasa pulled them apart, having to growl at them for several seconds before the power hungry alphas dropped their hostile glares. Instructor Shadis shook his head at both of them before telling them they had less than ten minutes to cool down and freshen up before assembly time.

                “Man that was awesome! We should definitely fight again sometime.” Reznov cried out thumping Eren on the back. Eren nodded.

                “That was definitely the best fight I had in ages.” He said throwing Reznov a towel. Silence dropped like a bombshell between them, although Eren couldn’t fathom why. There was a soft sigh before Reznov spoke again.

                “Look I’m really sorry for the way Yamamoto treated your little friend. Don’t worry though… Instructor Shinzo will definitely chew him out later. I guess I meant to tell you this earlier but I couldn’t really think of a way to apologize for that nut. He has always been a little self-centered but he does listen to orders… most of the time…” He trailed off sheepishly running a hand through his hair. Eren shrugged.

                “I may be somewhat protective over Armin but he can handle himself. It’s no big deal… although you should probably apologize to him yourself.” He said and Reznov relaxed considerably.

                “Thanks man, most of us in the Northern Division has a hard time working with him as well.” Reznov muttered. “And of course I plan to apologize…” The distant sound of sirens cut him off as Eren gave him a friendly look.

                “Look, don’t worry about it. We need to go.” Eren said and took off, once again running towards the arena.

                Slipping into position next to Armin, he prodded his best friend’s side wondering what on earth had gotten Armin so wide eyed.    “Earth to Ar, what’s wrong?”

                “It’s Erwin, Eren!” Armin hissed turning to face him. “He is the commander of the Survey Corps!” In that moment, whatever relief that Eren had felt from his earlier fight washed away in seconds. Right next to Erwin, in full uniform was Levi who looked almost bored and irritated. Armin glanced at Eren’s face that rapidly drained of color and whispered.

                “I’m sorry! I had no idea! Honest!!” Armin whined, shifting from foot to foot at his friend’s obvious distress. “I knew Erwin was a member of the SC but I had no idea he was the _COMMANDER_! I mean I’m an idiot for not asking but-“Armin squeaked. 

                _He dosen't recognise Levi.._ Eren realised. “Shh Ar its okay, breathe.” Eren whispered cutting off Armin’s babbling that grew louder with panic. “I’ll be fine. He probably can’t recognize us from up there anyways.” Armin took a deep breath. “Listen Ar, just focus on what is coming next alright? The only thing we should worry about is getting into the SC.” Eren said wryly, but before he could continue, Erwin's voice, loud and stern interrupted him.

                “TODAY IS THE DAY YOU WILL HAVE TO GIVE YOUR ALL TO MOVE FORWARD FROM BEING LOWLY TRAINEES TO A FULL FLEDGED SOLDIER.” Erwin’s voice boomed down from the stage. “HOWEVER. AS YOU KNOW EACH OF YOU ARE REQUIRED TO GO THROUGH A TRIAL AND IF WE FEEL THAT YOU HAVE FAILED, YOU WILL BE FORCED TO STEP DOWN OR PUSHED INTO A DIVISION DIFFERENT THAN WHAT YOU HAVE CHOOSEN, ONE WE DEEM FIT FOR YOUR PERFORMANCE. BE WARNED… THIS TRAIL IS DESIGNED TO BREAK YOU AND WILL BE DANGEROUS. IT WILL TEST ALL THAT YOU KNOW AND MORE.TAP INTO YOUR SHARPEST INSTINCTS AND YOU SHALL SUCCEED. IF YOU FEEL THAT YOU ARE NOT READY, STEP DOWN.” Erwin said sharply and marched stiffly off stage. Next to Levi, someone else bounded up to the microphone and giggled.

                “Good Afternoon!” She giggled adjusting her wide framed goggles and her wild messy ponytail. “I’m Hanji, Captain of the RSC which stands for the Research Division of the Survey Corps. I’ll be briefing you on your little trial today so just pay attention and you will be fine!” Eren shook his head recognizing her name and voice. He finally had a face to fit. Eren also realized that unlike all the other members of the SC, her uniform differed in color, the bright yellow a stark contrast to the straps of the uniform. The whole arena was silent, each trainee paying their utmost attention. It wasn’t so much as the drive to succeed but rather one to survive seeing the high mortality rate of the exams.

                “For the first time, you will not be using the practice 3-Dimentional Gear which you have grown accustomed to for the past three years, but rather the better version that is given to both the Military Police and the SC. To make it simple enough, the triggers of your 3DMG are a lot more sensitive than your practice ones so go easy on them. Its cables are made of steel and not iron so don’t get yourself snagged or you won’t ever escape fast enough and last but not least, each canisters holds a higher amount of pressurized gas for sharper turns and quicker getaways. She explained, still grinning madly and released the gas with a sharp twist of a knob. The canister let out a loud hiss before it flew out from her hands and shot straight at the practice wall where it crashed and exploded in a puff of white powder.

                “So! There you have it! Now I’ll run through the iffy trail details, first off, no one here has actually gone face to face with a titan other than sightings or the practice boards am I right? Well now, this will be your first. Inside this forest are more than 60 titans waiting for all 300 of you. Fortunately for you, there are no Deviant Class titans but rather what are waiting for you are fifteen Class 1 titans or crawlers or slows if you must, thirty Class 2 titans, also known as runners and ten Class 3 titans that roam free. Simple? Not quite. In addition to that there are five Class 4 titans that are chained down in the forest. Each titan is worth different points. For example, Class 1 titans are worth 10 points each followed by Class 2, 20 points and obviously Class 3 titans are worth 30 points. Class 4 titans on the other hand are worth 50 points each. Each team needs a total of 60 points to pass but here’s the catch. You only get the points if you kill each titan for the piece of yellow paper is injected onto their necks. These papers tell the points you receive and bringing them back is the only way to gain points. DO NOT kill my Class 4 babies, they are tied down and if you are lucky enough to get to one, then just climb onto it to get the paper hooked to its back. They are my science experiments and you do not know how difficult it is to catch one. You will be put into groups of 10 and every 10 groups have their own territory marked by red flags. It’s up to you to defend your territory and the titans inside for your own or share. You have from 1600 till 1200 hours tomorrow. Good luck. You are dismissed.” Hanji giggled once again before bounding offstage. It was hard to picture her actually fighting a titan let alone capturing one, or 60.

                “Armin, we should go get our gear now, we only have an hour to get used to them.” Mikasa said quietly tapping a transfixed Armin. Armin turned to face her, his whole body quivering in fear. Silently he begged her to send him home with his eyes, eagerness gone with Erwin's warning, replaced by panic and fear for whats to come. Eren lightly bumped his shoulder into his, hoping to shake him out of it.

                “Don’t worry Ar, we are right behind you. Let’s go kill some titans.” Sighing in defeat Armin adjusted his mask and walked over to the mess hall, his head held high. Mikasa smiled a little thankful for the mask and chased after him, Eren in tow.

                “Atta boy.”

* * *

 

                It was a lot colder than they expected. Eren shivered as his team zipped through the branches, stopping every once in awhile to ensure that nothing would burst out from deep within the undergrowth to attack them. But it was eerily quiet, with nothing but the annoying buzzing of insects. The forest was not only dense, but the air was heavy and it was difficult to breathe, it had barely been an hour but their jackets were already damp with the lingering moisture in the air. Without the luxury of picking out a team themselves, they unfortunately found themselves stuck with each other with Eren taking the lead, and the rest, Jean, Marco, Armin, and 6 other members from the other 3 divisions complying without so much of a thought or argument on who should take charge.

                They had encountered a Class 2 titan 5 minutes in and nothing in the world could have given them a bigger shock than a putrid smelling 7 meter tall bear, or what looked like one trying its best to murder you. The titan had looked worse than a rabid animal, with its mouth foaming and chunks of flesh and fur missing and falling out making it look more and more deformed by the second. It was only by sheer luck, Armin’s quick thinking and Eren’s ability to stay focused and bark out quick orders that they managed to bring the titan down. Naturally everyone was completely shaken after that. The only girl in their group, Rena heaved sobs as she pried off her mask and threw up out of shock before hysterically demanding to go home. She couldn’t of course and eventually Marco got to coax her to settle down and helped her fix her mask back on but no one blamed her. Armin would have done the same if she hadn’t beaten him to it first. Nothing in training prepared them for this and not even Eren could deny how terrified he had been. Hunting titans had been his goal for the longest of time, his rage over his father’s death that served as his drive quelled as he realized that nothing in the world could have prepared anyone to face a titan, not even the glimpse during his childhood. He suddenly found a whole new level of respect for Erwin, Levi and even Hanji. Eren wasn’t a fool, he knew that he may have had the will power but damn he was so ready to throw in the towel and go home. Eren’s blood ran cold with the thought of encountering a Class 3 titan. If a mere Class 2 titan looked like that, how would a Class 3? Or even a Class 4 no matter its mobility. But as unnerved as they were, Eren ordered them to move on after some urging from Jean who suggested that staying put left them vulnerable and exposed rather than actually moving as the trees cover up their movements and like it or not they had to finish this god forsaken trial. Little did they know, the titans were nothing compared to the actual danger that awaits them deeper within the forest.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! Hope you enjoyed it and see you soon!


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeap... so again with another late update orz. As it is extremely obvious, my degree course isn't easy so I'm quite busy. I will try to update when i can and don't worry I won't leave this unfinished.  
> So with that overrr... How are you guys doing?! I hope you are enjoying my story so far! Welp, things just went sour abit there at the end. This is an ErenxLevi story and is developing! stick around to find out why Eren is such a stubborn ass.  
> Special thanks to KarasuRei_25 for beta-reading this fic!  
> Enjoy and please leave me comments! They make me oh so happy (and more motivated to write)!

               “Pierre to Eren… I think we should split up.” said the timid voice that filtered through his headset. Eren paused mid-jump, on the branch; tense and alert as his eyes quickly scanning his surroundings. 3 hours had passed since they encountered the class 2 titan and Eren was beginning to get paranoid. Eren looked back at the scrawny blonde, who shivered and pointed to a small patch of ground; large enough to fit all of them yet small enough that the trees and the undergrowth shielded them from preying eyes.  Nodding he zipped off to the small clearing and making sure to Land quietly, Eren immediately rifled through the rations bag pulling out multiple ropes and canisters of food and water. Eren didn’t even need Armin to tell him that they were going to run out by morning. Despite how cold it was, they were sweating buckets and at this rate, they were going nowhere. There were no titans and Eren felt stupid just running through the forest blind. Armin peaked over his shoulder and sighed.

               “We need a water source.” He said slumping onto Eren. Pierre whimpered and Eren groaned out loud. He needed to scream at whatever god that was out there for this shitty trail to end. Forget the titans, surviving was hard enough. Eren had never felt so drained before, as if all the air had been sucked out of him leaving him dry and breathless. He longed to be home, curled up in his room. Unbidden, Levi’s scent passed through his nose, sprung from the idea of domesticity. Eren shivered and stubbornly squashed it away. _Nope, never going there. H_ e needed a plan, fast. Eren opened his mouth, ready to bark out orders before shutting it quickly, horrified by the lack of sound. _Shit..._ Clearing his throat he tried again.

               “I agree with Pierre, we should split up.” He croaked before taking a sip out of his canister. “Fran and Rena, take 150 meters down south.” The tall brunette nodded before taking Rena’s hand and smiled gently. “Lance, take Jean and go 200 meters east.” The short blonde wall of muscle saluted before moving to stand next to horseface. “Pierre and Yan, 200 meters west, don’t cross the borderline.” Eren said sharply.

               “Yes Eren.” Yan replied dropping a heavy hand on Pierre’s shoulder, who buckled under the weighty blow.

               Eren giggled internally. Giving orders was more fun than he thought. “Darlett,” He called.

               “Yes Eren?” Darlett answered stepping forward flipping back his black locks.

               “Take care of Armin.” Eren said seriously, passing him the last two canisters of gas. “Both of you will travel between us as a means of precaution. Marco and I will travel north. Any sightings of titans, call for back up and do not engage alone. Am I clear?” Eren barked. The group nodded and Eren grinned through his mask. “Let’s hunt!”

* * *

               A loud sharp snarl woke Eren up; causing him to scramble frantically with his blades, nearly falling off the tree, save for the ropes that held him in place. Still seated, Eren looked down and trained sharp eyes on the undergrowth, alert and ready to cut himself free and spring into action. He stilled, suddenly aware of the lack of a strong rotting smell and the buzz of static that greeted him along with another sharp growl. Eren shifted his eyes up to a frustrated Marco whose face was painted in a snarl, something so out of character; Eren couldn’t help but stare blankly. It took a while before Eren finally realized what his usually docile friend was struggling with, Eren wordlessly reached over and switched the channels on the signal transmitter for him cutting off the buzz. Marco’s snarl dropped and he smiled sheepishly.

               “Sorry, I dropped it and it didn’t seem to work no matter what I did…” he trailed off and blushed. Eren shook his head.

               “It’s fine.” Eren said sheathing his blades. Silence fell over them quickly. There was not even a breath of wind, or a chirp from a cricket. It was uncomfortable, hot, awkward, god he could write a book just to describe how he felt at that moment. Eren couldn’t help but feel worried, it’s been 7 hours since they last saw a titan, 2 hours since they heard from the rest of the team. His mind flew to Armin, anxious to hear from the little mushroom. Maybe he should call them back and regrou-

               “Jean to Marco. Is everything alright?” the static buzz and Jean’s arrogant voice broke through the silence and Eren’s internal musing.

               “Marco let out a relieved sigh before reaching for his earpiece. “Yeah, everything is alright.” Eren chuckled and poked him.

               “When are you going to ever tell him?” Eren asked, bright teal eyes gleaming. Marco half glared and rolled his eyes. He turned bright red, all the way up to his ears.

               “I’m a beta. He is an alpha, it doesn’t work that way.” Marc whispered staring up at the night sky. Eren snorted.

               “I’m an omega by blood so don’t give me that. A little hormone treatment and you would be as good as any omega.” Eren scoffed.

               “Maybe Eren, I just don’t want to.” Marco said with a note of finality. “Sleep, I’ll wake you later.” He continued with a small smile. Eren huffed.

               “You really are a freckled Jesus.”

* * *

 

               The morning air was cool and crisp, both Eren and Marco felt loads better. The forest was rather peaceful, so much so it was rather worrying. Eren knew it was only a brief calm before a storm. And true to his thoughts, someone zipped past him, way too quickly right into Marco’s path, mid-air.

               “MARCO LOOK OUT!” Eren yelled, stopping just as Marco got a face full of damp brown hair causing him to loose balance and fall, almost crashing into a tree. Instinctively Marco grabbed the girl with one hand and released the gas allowing him to slow the fall before releasing and firing the grappling hook again onto the closest tree an reeled himself and the sobbing girl onto a branch.

               “Shh, calm down what’s wrong… Sasha??” Marco exclaimed leaning back in shock after finally getting a good look at her face. Sasha sobbed and gripped onto Marco’s arm.

               “It broke free!” Sasha wailed. “A class 4 titan broke free! Connie… My team is injured and in hiding, I ran, I ran hoping to find someone. HELP US PLEASE!” Sasha screamed gripping Marco’s arms hard. “It happened so fast! It grabbed and cut off our lines and we couldn’t contact the base” With a sharp twist, Eren landed on the branch above them, silently keeping watch. Marco looked up at Eren in panic just as a red flare shot up.

               “Armin!” Eren barked into his earpiece.

               “Yes Eren?” came the instant reply.

               “Round up everybody, one of the class 4 titans broke free. We are going to help Braus’s team.” Eren stared up at the direction of the red flare. “Roughly 200 meters north. Go NOW!” he ordered and paused. “Sasha, will you pull yourself together! You are a soldier aren’t you?” Eren snapped. Sasha sobbed louder.

               “Eren!” Marco exclaimed. Eren took a deep breath.

               “Let’s go save your team ok?” Eren said, eyes softening. Marco smiled and pulled her up.

               “There you go.” He said letting go of her. Sasha took a deep breath.

               “Okay…” she whispered.

* * *

                “Eren! We’ve got 2 class 2 runners to the left!” Marco exclaimed just as a large paw swiped down missing him by millimeters. Marco braked mid-air before switching direction, circling round the titan. Firing his grappling hooks at the titan, he held on as the titan roared and twisted, trying to shake him off. Using the momentum as an advantage, Marco swung his arms down, slashing across the back of the titan’s neck. Marco gagged at the smell and released his hooks to jump away as the titan crashed down onto the forest floor. He picked up the yellow paper from the remains of the titan and grinned.

               “Nice kill Marco!” came the cheer from behind him. Marco looked up to see Armin, Jean, Lance and Darlett zip past him. Darlett was pumping his fist in the air and cheering, next to him Marco saw Pierre, Rena and Yan take down the second runner before Fran jumped in to grab at the yellow piece of paper. There was no celebrating however as a loud roar resonated through the forest, the sheer force of the sound throwing them off.

               “It’s here!” Sasha screamed and took off in the other direction.

               “Where are you going? Stick together!” Jean yelled chasing after her.

               “I’m going to find Connie! And my team!” She replied and took off into the trees.

               “God damn it Sasha!” Jean cursed and hurried after her.

               “The rest of you stay together!” Eren barked, his eyes dark and furious. He could finally see the titan through the trees and little by little panic and fear flooded him. The titan was a massive lion with a mane so thick, it looked impossible to cut through, not that they could kill it either way. The class 4 looked almost ordinary if were not for its sheer size of 14 meters and the stench that escaped with each roar, or the fact that it walked on 2 legs and not 4.

               “Eren we will need to recapture it.” Armin said, moving next to him. Eren nodded before the idea struck him.

               “Yamamoto.” Eren yelled and Armin grinned, this was exhilarating. Fire pumped in his veins and he could almost hear the gears ticking in his head as the plan slowly came to mind.

               “Cut around it! About a 100 meters to the front find the biggest trees and cut it just enough for it to topple with a push!” Armin yelled. “DO NOT ENGAGE IT! Just distract it and lead it to open space! Then gather all the steel coils you can find!”

               Eren huffed as he landed on the branch. Rummaging through his bag, he pulled out two steel coils the supposed replacements for their gear. Passing one to Armin who grinned and took off wrapping the steel coil around the trunk of the tree and weaved it between trees before instructing the others to do so. Eren grinned realizing exactly what Armin was planning and grabbed his own cable and did the same. Behind them Armin could see the titan swiping down at Jean as Sasha and her team arrived and held up the titan by zipping around it, almost like flies buzzing around its head. As the titan drew closer, Eren yelled out something, but Armin couldn’t hear it. As soon as the titan dropped on all fours, they zipped over under and around the titan, pulling along the cable and wrapped it around the trees on the opposite sides. The pushed down the trees onto the steel cables, it pulled the cables taut trapping it. The cheers came and stopped almost too soon as one by one they dropped to the ground coughing and gasping for air.

               “What?” Armin breathed before realizing something amiss. The air was tinged green and the chains that once held the titan down were rusted beyond recognition. He had barely any time to react however as he felt his body shut down. Again he could hear Eren barking out more orders and the last thing he remembered was a pair of arms lifting him off and Connie’s voice telling him to hang in there.

* * *

                “Eren what is going on?” Jean demanded, hacking coughs as he shook Eren by his shoulders.

“Damn it Jean!” Eren snapped pushing the stubborn Jean away from him. Delivering a swift punch to Jean’s gut he moved away as Jean puked, emptying whatever left in stomach. Water was soon trusted into his hands however as Rena ran about splitting the leftover water.

               “Poison gas. I have no idea what kind, but I suspect that someone used it to break the chains.” He heard Connie say.

               “Foul play?” Someone from Sasha’s team suggested.

               “Possibly, but we can’t say for sure. Let’s just get back to headquarters.” Eren replied. Jean groaned, everything ached. His muscles, his chest but it was slowly clearing away.

               “EREN, ARMIN IS NOT BREATHING!” Connie yelled in panic as he finally caught up to them. Eren turned around, breathless as worry crashed through him. Before he could do anything, a shadow loomed behind them, as a titan wandered up behind Connie. Screams echoed throughout the field as both teams scattered, some trying to help others running for their gear.

               “THERE ARE MORE OF THEM COMING!!” One of Sasha’s team member shouted. “SOMEONE HELP ARMIN AND CONNIE!” Jean yelled something incomprehensible in reply and rushed over to the frozen Connie followed closely by Marco.

 _I’m not going to make it in time… they are not going to make it in time!_ Eren didn’t quite know what went through his head after that, but the next thing he knew, he had buried his sharp teeth deep into the titan’s neck. Blood pounded in his veins, resonating in his ears. Everything in his body seemed to fuse into one single purpose. _Kill._

               In a split second, Eren had shifted, something primal sleeping inside him springing forth the form of a titan in a split second, something he hadn’t been able to do after years of trying. No matter how hard he blinked, everything seemed to be distorted in a shade of red. His body seemed to move on his own, attacking the titan without hesitation. Killing it.

               “EREN!”

               Almost like a switch, everything stopped. Eren’s body was met with excruciating pain and his eyes stared up at the blurry sky, bright blue and no longer tinged in red and then let he himself fall.

* * *

                “The titans are attacking each other…” Pierre whispered. It seemed as if time had stopped for each of them, transfixed by the smaller titan. Something in them grew, old and ancient. It itched under their skin, as if begging to be set free. It was Darlett who turned away first, after his nose stung from the terrible rotting stench that quickly filled the clearing.

               “Everyone head into the trees!” he choked out into his earpiece, hoping that it still worked. “We are too exposed here. Jean, Marco help Connie with Armin.” Slowly, almost sleepily they tore their gaze away as if Darlett’s voice broke a spell. With a small snarl or a growl they made their way into the thick cover of the trees, either on their gear or running for the life of them. Everything seemed to be slowed down, Darlett could barely focus. As if time had hit a slow-motion button, he could see every step made by his teammates and every puff of gas that escaped the canister.

               “We need to get out of here.” Marco said grabbing Connie by the arm attempting to pull him to his feet. Armin gasped and struggled out of Connie’s arms.

               “Eren! Where is Eren?” he cried out. Jean stopped with a start. The suicidal bastard was nowhere to be seen. Worry crashed through him. _Don’t tell me…_

               “EREN!!!!” Armin yelled just as the smaller titan caught hold of the back of the titan’s neck. With a sickening sound, he ripped through the skin, pulling the skin off with his teeth, clawing the open wounds; trying to get it deep as possible. With a loud hiss the titan dropped, steam rising from its body in a large cloud of white and Jean finally saw the unconscious Eren falling.

               “I’ve got him!” Jean barked. “Get to headquarters!” firing his grappling hook onto the slowly decomposing titan’s body, Jean grabbed Eren mid-air and chased after Connie who was still carrying Armin. “Heck we better get extra points for this, we sure as hell deserved it.” He grunted.

* * *

                “WHO DID IT.? WHO DID IT?!” Hanji stormed into the control room fuming mad and snarling. “WHO RELEASED MY PRECIOUS BABY?!?”

               “I’m sorry captain, there was no footage on who released the gas.” A woman answered, her voice ringing like bells as ruffles out her short brown hair in irritation.

               “How many cameras have you gone through Petra?” Levi asked striding in behind Hanji. “Shitty glasses, will you calm the fuck down.” Hanji couldn’t. Fire burned through her veins, oh how she needed to crush something.

               “I’ve gone through 10 different cameras, Gunther has gone through 5 and Oluo has gone through 8. No one saw or noticed anything out of the ordinary Corporal.” Petra answered. “In fact, no one approached the titan since the trial started.” Levi cussed under his breath.

               “How are the recruits doing?” He asked, sparking surprise in Hanji and Petra’s eyes. Brushing it off, he stared at the large monitor. “Looks like the brats did well.” He said watching them puke and catch their breath in the clearing. _Disgusting._

               “Yes sir!” Petra said brightly. “They would make wonderful additions to-“

               “DAMNED BRAT!” Levi shouted as Hanji squealed in excitement.

               “PETRA DID YOU SEE THAT?” She shouted, her anger washed away in excitement. “REWIND THE THING!” Petra held her breath and did as she was told. Watching the recording closely, her eyes widened as she saw a titan looming behind two recruits and a smaller titan appearing right where one trainee had stood frozen and launched itself across the clearing in a split second, latching its jaws deep into the titan’s neck taking the much larger titan apart. She could not believe her eyes. It wasn’t possible. Titans don’t attack each other, and humans don’t just turn into titans and back again. It was irreversible. This shouldn’t be possible. All the myth and folklore she studied and read seemed to laugh in her face, screaming the truth they held in the peeling leather skins. Titan shifters were real.

               “He is rather small isn’t he?” Hanji said, staring at the screen. “The titan that came up to them is a class 3, averagely that would make it around 11 meters tall. Yet the small one didn’t even seem to be half his height, barely even a quarter. He should be roughly around…”

               “He is 2 meters tall give or take.” Levi said dryly and immediately regretted it the minute Hanji turned to him, eyes sparking with revelation despite forgetting he was even there in the first place.

               “You know him! When you first saw the footage you shouted!” she yelled, bouncing precariously on her heels.

               “You’re dreaming, shitface. I don’t shout.” Levi snapped.

               “I most definitely heard you! And Petra heard you too!” Hanji giggled and Petra looked away blushing. “Seeing as how your social circle consists of only Erwiee, Me and the Rest of your special operations squad, am I right to say that is the fry that was in heat in your house that day?~”

               “It most definitely is.” The smooth chuckle sounded behind him. “Oh and the kids arrived by the way.” Petra visibly blanched and raised her eyebrows. This is something new, Levi is not someone who would sleep around let alone interact with people.

               “Go away shitty brows, she doesn’t need another fucking test subject.” Levi snapped. Hanji glowered at him suspiciously.

               “You seem awfully protective of the runt.” Hanji growled. “Also, HOW could you keep this from me?!” Her tail swished in anger. Petra was once again taken aback. This was the first time she had seen Hanji angry enough that she partially shifted. But Hanji was more than angry, she was furious. She trusted both of them, not only as commander and corporal but as her best friends to tell her something so crucial to her research, especially when she was doing it for the benefit of society under ERWIN'S orders.

               “Now Hanji, I told him not to say anything because the less people who know the better. It became a matter of security the minute he shifted. It’s new and it’s unknown, we have not yet determine if he would be a hazard or not. “

               “Don’t give that security crap. You always say that when you don’t tell me something.” Hanji snarled murderously. “I-“

               “I’m glad I’m not the only one he keeps things from.” A voice interrupted from the doorway just as Gunther ran in breathless.

               “I’m sorry commander, I called them up here and told them to wait in the waiting room but this one was insistent on seeing you.” The boy huffed and flipped his hair back.

               “Brief them and inform them that they are formally accepted into the Survey Corps. Apologize about missing the ceremony and of course the class 4 then let them off but keep the Yeager kid there. I will see him shortly.” Erwin ordered and Gunther saluted and marched off. “Armin, I did not keep anything from you. You simply didn’t ask.”

               “What? I shouldn’t have to in the first place!” Armin screeched. “You are my Mate! You should be able to tell me what you do in your goddamn life. I would appreciate some form of warning rather than having the fact that someone who is supposed to be my MATE being called commander of what, only the biggest military force around?, slapped right into my face.” Once again Armin knew he was being petty but there is no way he was going to back down from this one. He deserved to know, and was just tired of having things kept away from him.

               “Armin you are a trainee, I am a commander of a force. If you had gotten in and had known my position beforehand, how were I to know if you had not tried to take advantage of our relationship?” Erwin blurted out without thinking, the alpha in him desperate to calm down the omega. The look on Armin’s face as he said that had Erwin hastily scrambling to fix that slipup. “I know you won't but, would other officers believe that?”

               “Do you really think that little of me to think I would take the easy way in while the rest of my friend risk their life in a stupid trial?” Armin hissed. “Well done Erwin, you have earned the biggest asshole award because I swear, I've never met anyone as rock-headed as you.” Levi scoffed.

               “Look kid, we all know how shitty Erwin is, can we move on now?” Levi snarled, he was growing tired of this pointless banter and would love to go home and just curl up somewhere and sleep. Not to mention shower and get out of this stifling uniform. Hanji looked far from calm and Armin still looked as if Erwin had betrayed the life out of him. Levi sighed.

               “Look kid, I’m sure that Erwin meant to tell you at some point, he probably just took too long to do it. And Hanji? Stop sulking and I’ll make it up to you ok shitty glasses?” Hanji froze upon hearing her name. Levi almost never called her by name at least not when it sounded apologetic. Armin scowled and stormed off.

               “Please join your other group members downstairs.” Petra called out to him before hurrying out of the control room. Hanji has still stood there, slightly frozen, her mind trying to comprehend the fact that Levi had just called her by her NAME. Eventually she took a deep breath and relaxed, her head and butt itching from where her tail and ears had shifted. Narrowing her eyes at both of them, she hissed.

               “You owe me.” And both Levi and Erwin sighed. “Come, let’s go meet the kid.”

* * *

                Hanji’s office was rather airy and terribly messy, but even with the breeze Eren could smell all sorts of chemicals wafting from the hidden corners of the room. Eren was sure he would develop asthma the longer he stayed in her office, and judging by the look on Levi’s face, he was dying to run off too.

               “I’ll get straight to the point, how long have you been able to fully shift and is anyone else in your family able to?” Hanji asked. Eren was taken aback by her seriousness, something he hadn’t pictured her to be and rather unlike the eccentric character she built around herself. But her questions did raise some questions of his own, Eren could not recall when he first shifted nor could he recall his father ever shifting. Eren remembered the lessons his father thought him about titan shifters and how it’s passed down in their family but never once had he witnessed his father shift. The puzzled look on his face must have obvious enough for Hanji to change topic.

               “Now Eren, I’m aware that you are an omega. Is your father an omega?” Eren shook his head. He knew where Hanji was going with this.

               “My father was a beta, and I do not think that the shifting abilities are limited to a certain class captain.” Eren answered politely. Hanji sighed.

               “Well, that will be all for today, it is too late to do any research now so we will leave it at that. However, we may have removed the recording of you demonstrating your shifting ability during the trial but as a matter of security, I strongly urge you to refrain from shifting anytime soon.” Hanji said in all seriousness. Eren stared at her blankly and nodded, still wondering what happened to the rather eccentric woman. “Now that is settled, can I please please please experiment on you?” Hanji squealed jumping on top of her desk to grab Eren’s hand, ignoring the whirlwind of papers she caused. _Oh, there you go._

               “Uhm… you’re drooling...” Eren stuttered leaning as far away as he could from her. Hanji opened her mouth, probably to spew more nonsense when a low growl interrupted her. Hanji let go of his hands and sat back on her heels, miraculously balancing on the table.

               “Oh calm down lover boy, I was merely interested in his ti-“

               “Hanji.” Levi cut her off with an icy glare. “If you can stop your idiotic thinking for just a second you would have realized that one of our privates, I’m assuming Jaeger’s friend is waiting outside.” He hissed and threw open the door. Sasha immediately jumped into a salute, her fist thumping her chest loudly.

               “Sir!” she shouted, eyes squeezing shut in fear. Eren wanted to hit his head on the wall somewhere.

               “At ease kid, we were just about to dismiss Eren, what do you want?” Levi snapped.

               “We, I was looking for him sir. We are supposed to go to celebrate in Trost Bar sir.” Sasha answered dropping her salute before narrowing her eyes at him and grinned widely. “Would you care to join us sir?” Of course the invitation extends to Commander and Captain as well.” Eren’s eyes widened at her brazen question.

               “Sasha! Enough.” Eren bellowed, he could feel his face settling into a frown and struggled to relax his features.

               “It’s ok Eren,” Erwin interjected settling a large hand on Eren’s shoulder. “We humbly accept.”

               “Oi, don’t screw around shitty brows.” Levi growled.

               “I’m not.” Erwin said seriously. “Besides this is a good way to keep an eye on him isn’t it?”

               “I’ll look after him, don’t use it as an excuse to see your mate.” Levi snapped, he wanted a shower dammit.

               “Oh calm down Levi, don’t be such a prick. ‘Sides you owe me.” Hanji said cheerfully. “So suck it up. You kids can go ahead first though.” Sasha nodded and bolted out of the door dragging Eren along.

               “What the hell Sasha? Why would you do that?” Eren snarled wrenching his hand away from her.

               “Oh please Eren, as if I couldn’t smell your scent on him, it is faint but it’s there. Besides, what’s the worst that could happen?” She grinned. Eren glared. “Don’t be a baby Eren, you are not the kid who ran around, forever angry at the world anymore. Grow up.” She snapped and stormed off. Slowly he trudged after her, before stopping beside Marco.

               “Hey, can I talk to you for a second?” Eren asked tentatively. Marco nodded and stepped aside, just out of earshot from the rest of the group. “About what I said in the trial… I’m sorry, it was insensitive of me.” Eren muttered quietly. Marco stared at him, mouth hanging open, desperately needing a cotton bud because he could not believe his ears. Eren was actually apologizing. He shifted uncomfortably.

               “But despite what I just said, I want to ask again… why don’t you take hormonal treatments?” Marco blinked forcing the dumfounded look off his fac.

               “It’s just as you said Eren, I’ll be good as any other omega. But that’s just the thing. I don’t wasn’t to be any other omega for him, it’s not special as ridiculous as that sounds. It is impossible, I know but I haven’t come to terms with it yet. But as for the hormone treatment, I’ve actually already started on that. See?” Marco replied and extended out his arms tilting his wrists towards Eren’s face. True enough the slight change in scent was there as subtle as it was.

               “I think, just changing itself is special. It would be special for him because you changed for him.” Eren smiled.

               “Thank you…” Marco whispered, tears forming in his eyes.

               “LET’S GO ALREADY!” Connie yelled, irritated. Eren growled and shook his head.

               “Way to ruin a moment.” He muttered.

* * *

                The bar was loud, and noisy as per usual and Eren slumped down on the couch, exhaustion and injuries finally taking a toll on him. The lights and the music felt overwhelming, not to mention for a short period of time he could not see anything more than flashes of bright colored light. His muscles burned even with his accelerated healing and pain still spiked though his body when he jerked or moved too quickly and decided to react like a sloth much to everyone’s chagrin.

               “Come on Eren, drink up.” Reiner urged, pushing 2 more shot classes in his direction. It was his 6th and felt its effects more than usual.

               “Nah man… I’ll passsss...” Eren slurred alcohol already drowning his thoughts. But even through his hazy mind he realized that Armin had latched onto his side, clinging as if letting go would kill him. He didn’t need Levi or Erwin’s unabashed stare from across the bar to tell him that. Eren didn’t mind it of course, he knew the feelings Armin had for him, even before Erwin came into the picture but he couldn’t return the feelings as much as he wanted to, simply because he could never be a proper mate for Armin. He did enjoy teasing him though, chuckling as Armin shivered responding to the innocent light brushes his fingers left on Armin’s lower back and thighs. By his third beer Armin was positively dripping, his body flushed with want. Armin seemed to not be able to keep his hands off him either. Armin’s hands kept bushing across his chest and neck before pressing himself into the curve of Eren’s side. Eren knew the blonde wasn’t as drunk as he pretended to be. Armin only had 3 beers so far and despite his size, he was quite a heavy drinker. Eren on the other hand was aware of how drowsy he had become. Naturally enough, Eren asked Armin to take him home. He must have sounded sultrier than he thought because Armin jumped up bright red and pulled him to the car without so much as a goodbye to the gang.

               The car ride sobered him up a little after stopping halfway to throw up. By the time he finally got into his room, he was more than ready to go to sleep until a completely naked Armin crawled up next to him.

               “Ar go sleep on your own bed.” Eren growled as Armin pressed up against him. He must have sounded more harsh than intended because Armin choked a sob and moved away before Eren relented. “I’m sorry, come here…” he said and pulled Armin on top of him and crooned. After a while Armin started humming happily and pressed a kiss to Eren’s lips. His touch was soft and warm, much unlike the fire Levi left behind when he touched him. It’s been awhile since he last slept with Armin but he never realized how he never knew another person’s touch until now and just how different it was. Rolling them over he deepened the kiss, before pulling back to look at Armin’s flushed face.

               “Are you sure?” Eren whispered. Armin smiled and pulled off Eren’s clothes in reply.

               “Please…” he whispered. Eren sighed and leaned down nipping Armin’s neck.

               “I can never say no to you.”

* * *

                Armin woke up annoyed, the light that was streaming into the room was too bright and his body still ached with need. He had never fully slept with Erwin and yet he didn’t feel as satisfied as when he was with Erwin. He needed to move but Eren felt too comfortable against him and his whole body was sore. _So much for Eren being an omega._

               “Well look what we have here.” Came the cough from the doorway. Startled, Armin bolted upright and yowled in pain accidentally waking Eren.

               “Levi.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you! I hope you enjoyed that and i hope to see you soon! And please please please leave a comment! :)

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Stay tuned and please leave a kudos!


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